AlternateReality
by LostAgain2015
Summary: An alternate reality of HoA set at the start of Season 1. A student suddenly disappears from Anubis house as two new students arrive. Can the Chosen One find the missing student before it's too late? A different take on the story, or should I say, it's kind of a reboot. :) I apologize for the very late update.
1. Intro to AlternateReality

**Hey guys so this is my first try at FanFiction ever, so please understand if my writing is not at its best form**

**I only got to until Season 2 of HoA, so there's that.**

**What if Nina was not the chosen one, and instead of Joy disappearing it would be Fabian? What if Eddie arrives the same time as Nina in HoA. A take on this alternate reality. If you like the idea of this chaotic mess, please support/review/message me.**

**Warning: Romantic pairs may not be any of the regular romantic pairs we see (which will be a fun challenge, I think)**

**Suggest more in the review.**


	2. Fabian disappears

_Joy_

We go down for breakfast. Jerome, Mick and Alfie are already sitting on the dining chairs, clearly waiting for food. Mara is also there, reading a book. Patricia, well, she was still in our room. Amber must still be fixing her hair.

Hey guys, where's Fabes?

"I dunno", Mick answers, and adds, "When I woke up he was not in our room."

"Why are you so concerned about Fabian anyway?", Jerome says, looking at Alfie. "Oh yeah..." I see Jerome and Alfie high-five, and laugh.

Was it really that obvious?, I ask myself. Oh well, that's fine by me.

Soon Amber, then Patricia arrive at the dining table just as Trudy finishes cooking breakfast.

"Trudy, have you seen Fabes?", I ask.

"Hmm, not really, not since yesterday", she tells me.

"Well, that's odd...", Patricia observes.

Just then Victor enters the room. He announces, "Fabian has had an emergency and so he had to leave Anubis in such short notice." Well, that explains the sudden disappearance, I think to myself. But that does not explain why he has not contacted any of us yet about why he had to leave. Hmm, it must be something too confidential. Something does not seem right here, but I leave it to the back of my mind.

I finish breakfast, and go to our room to change, then I walk to school.


	3. Hi Nina

_Nina_

I exit the taxi after paying my fare to the driver. There's this creepy house in front of me. This must be Anubis house. I walk to the door and knock. A woman opens the door for me.

"Is this Anubis house?", I ask.

"Yes, dear. You must be the new student.", she answers.

"Yes, ma'am? By the way, I'm Nina"

"Trudy. Nice to meet you, Nina. You're a bit late, Nina. You were supposed to be here 3 days ago."

"Oh, I had to visit my grandma."

"Well, as you're here, let me take you to your room. You will have to share with 2 roommates."

"That's okay."

I follow Trudy to the room where I'll be staying. When we arrive, I place my bag on the empty bed on the corner, and leave the room. It seems that no one's around, so I ask Trudy, who I find in the kitchen."

"Trudy, where's everyone?", I ask.

"Oh, they're in class", she answers.

"Oh.", I exclaim. "Can I help you then? I'm not doing anything as of the moment."

"Well, ok. Thank you, Nina."

We get busy doing housework, and before I know it, it's almost lunchtime, which meant Trudy has to cook lunch. I have nothing else to do anyway, so I decide to help her.


	4. 2 new students

_Eddie_

I don't know why my mother agreed to send me here in England. I mean, it was a sudden send-off. I was living well in America, but when she received a call from my father, she decided to send me here. I don't know what my father told my mom. So anyway, I'm here and there's nothing I can do about that. From the airport I call a cab and tell the driver my destination. Some time later, the cab stops on a house that looks old. I exit the cab and walk towards the door, but before I can open the door, I hear someone behind me. I look around and see a mean-looking person with a perfectly groomed mustache. You got to admit, his hair was very well-groomed.

He speaks in a booming voice. "What are you doing here?"

I panic a bit, but I reply, "Is this Anubis house?"

"Yes, this is Anubis house. Are you the new student?"

"Yeah"

"Get in."

I open the door, where I see two people in the kitchen. One seemed to be my age, and the other was an older-looking woman. The older-looking woman sees us and then comes closer to us.

She says, "Victor, you're back. The other new student just arrived. She's there in the kitchen."

He just points at me and says, "Trudy, lead him to Mick's room."

She tries to say, "But how about Fabian?", to which he said, "Fabian is not coming back. He just called, saying he can't come back to Anubis." That put an end to their conversation, and so Trudy leads me to the room. When we enter the room, she walks toward one of the beds and starts fixing some of the stuff in it.

It's taking a little long for Trudy to fix the bed, so I decide to leave for a second. I walk towards the kitchen, where I see the student who was helping Trudy a while ago. She looks around, and at the same time someone opens the door.

**So, how did I start in this story? You think I'm heading towards the right direction? Please review.**


	5. Hello Eddie by Amber

**Sorry for the very short previous chapters. I did not realize they were so short. Anyway, back to the story.**

_Amber_

I go to Anubis house a little early today. I know, because the other tenants of the house are still in the classroom. I walk to the door and open it, and what do I see?

A guy looks back at me, and immediately steps aside as he realize he's blocking the doorway. "I have not seen you before?", I tell him.

"Oh, I did not introduce myself yet", was his reply.

"Are you a new student here?", I ask, noting his American accent.

"Yeah"

"So, what's your name?"

"If you really want to know, then it's Eddie"

"Amber. Well, I have to look ready for later, bye!"

I walk to mine and Patricia's room and start what I was supposed to do… to fix my hair, my clothes, my looks, you know, that sort of thing. But I find myself interrupted by something in my mind that keeps on telling me that Eddie is cute and stuff… You know, stuff. I don't really want to talk about it now, ok? Sure he's cute, I think to myself, but he has not passed my three tests yet. Oh wait, those are the tests for being my boyfriend. I can't think of him as a boyfriend as of now, I don't even know him yet! I have to concentrate in fixing my hair. Enough of this thinking.

I finally finish fixing my looks, and walk down to the kitchen, where I see Eddie talking to what seems like another new student. 2 new students coming in at the same time? That's weird, unless they are together. Well, that's it for me. No more chance with the cute guy. Wait, what? What am I thinking to myself. Am I jealous? Well, I'm not.

I walk to my place in the table, which made a little scraping sound. Well, not really a little sound. It was really loud that they both turned around.

"Oh, hi Amber!", Eddie exclaims. "you're here."

"Well, I am here", I reply, crossing my arms.

"Oh, this is…" I see Eddie trying to remember what her name was.

The girl then said, "Nina. I'm Nina."

Oh, another American. Well, it seems they have just met each other, which is a very good sign. As there's nothing else to do for the moment, I decide to talk to both Eddie and Nina.

We ask each other about general stuff, that is, until Nina had to check on the food being cooked. That's weird, Trudy was supposed to be the one cooking the food.

"Where's Trudy?" I ask Eddie, while Nina was checking the food.

"Oh, she's in… Wait, let me remember the name the creepy guy told me. Oh yeah, she's in Mick's room."

"What's she doing there?"

"Just cleaning stuff from one of the beds."

Hmm, I think. It must be Fabian's stuff. But why was Trudy fixing Fabian's stuff? Unless he won't be returning. Well, that's kinda sad. I don't know what Joy must feel if Fabian were not to return to Anubis. At that very moment, Trudy comes out of the room, holding Fabian's stuff in a box.

"Eddie, your room is ready.", Trudy tells Eddie, to which Eddie goes towards Mick's room. Trudy then walks up towards Victor's room with the box in hand. When she comes down a moment later, she was not holding the box. She comes toward the kitchen to check on the food, so I ask her.

"Trudy, what's with Fabian's stuff?"

"Oh, Victor said Fabian will not be coming back, so I fixed his stuff and gave it to Victor to give Fabian's stuff back to him."

"Oh, okay!", I tell her.

Trudy checks the food for the last time, with Nina accompanying her, and then turns off the stove. She asks both of us to help her prepare the table, as the others will be arriving any minute now for lunch. Sure enough, just as we finish preparing the table, the others arrive, one after another.

**Hey guys, I may need some help in this story in the future. Please review, suggest, and more.**


	6. Lunch w the newbies

_Jerome_

"I hope Trudy cooked us a feast today! That quiz was really hard", Alfie tells me. He is clearly not in a better position than I am. Well, I think I passed the quiz, but I'm not really sure. It was that hard.

"I know. It would help me get over thinking of that quiz and how I did on it.", was his reply.

I'm sure I did worse than Alfie, and we're talking about Alfie here, not Mara. Speaking of Mara, here she comes towards us.

"So, how did you guys do on the quiz?", Mara asks me, clearly in a cheerful mood.

"No, not really", I reply.

"You should spend more time studying instead of pranks and that kind of stuff", she suggests.

"Sure Mara, that would help me, but would it help Alfie?", I point towards him.

"Hey, that's not funny!", Alfie tells us as Mara and I laugh.

"Sorry Alfie," Mara tells him, though she knows full well that it was just a joke.

Well, that little joke made me feel a little better. We walk towards the house, with me and Alfie walking in a slightly faster pace than Mara, who tries to follow us while trying to read. She finally gives up trying to read that book. She now manages to walk at the same pace we walk, so she also joins in on our conversation with Alfie. We talk on the way towards the house, while maintaining a good pace. We need to get there first so that we can eat a lot of the food.

We get there just before lunchtime. I open the door, and enter the house, where I see Amber and a new girl already sitting on the table. Alfie and Mara follow inside, where they also see Amber and the new girl sitting in. Trudy comes out with the food and calls out to us, "What are you standing there for? It's time to eat!" Oh right, we came here to eat. We sit down on the chairs around the table and wait for the others to arrive.

Mara then asks the new girl, "So what is your name?"

"Oh, I'm Nina.", I hear her reply.

"I'm Mara, and this is Jerome and Alfie", Mara points to us.

"Hello, Nina!", I tell her. Alfie says the same thing.

"Nice to meet you, Mara, and you guys!", Nina waves to us. We wave back. Just then, another new student enters the kitchen. We all look towards him.

"Did I do something wrong?", the guy asks us, hands raised.

"No, it's just weird that there are 2 new students arriving at the same time.", Alfie says.

"What's your name?", Mara asks the new guy, to which he replies, "Uh, Eddie."

"It's lunch dears. Sit down and wait for the others, then we can eat!", Trudy reminds us, so Eddie goes to sit on one of the chairs and we wait. And wait. And wait. But no one else arrives. I see Amber bring out her phone, apparently to text message the others as to why they did not come home for lunch, to which Alfie remembers, "Never mind texting Mick, he told me he may not be coming home for lunch because of practice."

"You should have told me earlier", Amber complains. She must have already sent a text message to Mick.

A little while later, Amber receives a message from Patricia, which contents she share. "Joy and I won't be there for lunch. We need to buy some things for school. We're in town".

We start lunch until we eat to our hearts' content, which for Alfie meant too much food. We all finish eating in a short time, with the exception of Alfie, who tries to eat more. Nina and Eddie look at him with bewilderment, while Mara, Amber and I just laugh. It's really funny seeing Alfie try to fit as much food as he can inside his mouth.

Finally, when it was all over, we head towards the door to get back to school, but Victor stops us from heading towards school, saying there was a school meeting, and classes were suspended for the afternoon. Works for me. With that being said, I head back to our room, followed by everyone else, who heads to their own rooms as well.

Sometime later, I hear the door open and close, and hear Mick's voice (and footsteps) after that. He was heading towards the kitchen, and I hear him ask Trudy for something in the kitchen. I can't hear the exact conversation, but something tells me Mick was looking for something to eat. I can't really blame him.


	7. Shopping towards dinner

**In case you were wondering, I'm writing this story as fast as I can so that I can create a lot of stuff before I get writer's block.**

_Patricia_

I can't believe I'm doing this with Joy. I thought I was supposed to accompany her to buy some school supplies for both of us, but she decided to shop for some clothes and stuff. You know, stuff, makeup, those things I don't really like to use. But she was happy, so I guess I have to be happy too.

Now that afternoon classes were canceled, we (I mean Joy) have more time to shop for stuff. Note that I said stuff because I don't really know what some of them were called.

"Come on, Patricia, buy some makeup for yourself", Joy tries to convince me.

"No, my only set of makeup in our room has not yet been halved, so never mind that."

"Fine", Joy told me.

We shop around for an hour more, until Joy can't find any more things to buy, so she asked me, "What do you want to do now?"

"Let's go eat some lunch. I'm sure those guys at Anubis house ate all the food," I complain.

We go for some fast food, as I was starving and so was Joy. While we were eating, Joy asks me a question. "Don't you think it's weird that Fabian had to leave at such short notice?"

I think to myself. I had to agree. "I know. It is weird."

"Why has he not contacted us yet?", Joy asks me.

"How should I know? Maybe he lost his phone somewhere.", I tell Joy.

We continue eating until we are full, and we leave the fastfood place. There's nothing more to do, so we leave town and go back to Anubis.

We get to Anubis house a while later. I open the door, and we both get in. We look around and see that no one was in the kitchen or the sofa, apart from Trudy who was cleaning stuff in the kitchen. They must all be in their rooms. Just then Mick comes out of their room, followed by a new student. That's weird, I think to myself. That was Mick and Fabian's room, and I was sure there were 2 beds in there.

Mick and the new guy see us and walk towards us.

"Hey Mick, who is that?", I ask, pointing to the new student.

"Oh right, you don't know yet. He's Eddie.", Mick tells us.

"Uh, hello!", Eddie tells us. "So what are your names?", he asks.

"I'm Joy, and this is Patricia", Joy replies.

"Joy, I can speak.", I remind Joy, who just shrugs.

"So, we're going to play some ball", Mick tells us.

"Oh right", Joy replies, to which we get out of their way. They leave Anubis house, and we go to our rooms. Joy starts unpacking her new stuff, while I just roll my eyes and sit in my bed for a while. I was exhausted, thanks to Joy. I have to remind myself next time to let Amber accompany her to go shopping, instead of me.

I open my eyes and look at the timepiece beside me. Oh no, it's already 5:50 pm. 10 minutes before 6pm, which was dinner time, by the way. I must have fallen asleep at some time after we got to our rooms. I wash my face a little, and go downstairs to the kitchen. Trudy is there, busy preparing dinner, but nobody else.

"Hey Trudes, where's everyone?", I ask, just as Eddie and Mick enter the house. They must have just finished playing basketball. I know, because I see Mick holding a ball he was not holding a while ago.

Trudy then replies, "The girls are in Amber's room, and Jerome and Alfie must be in their room too."

"Okay". I look at Mick and Eddie. I can see they are both exhausted.

"Hi, Patricia. Hey, Trudy!", Eddie greets us.

"How was your game dears?", Trudy asks to which Mick replies, "It was really great, Trudy. Right, Eddie?". Eddie says back, "Yeah! That was really great. I'm definitely looking forward for the next time we play." I see them high-five, and laugh a bit. We leave them, as they go to their room. I go help Trudy, as there's nothing else to do. At 6:00, Trudy calls, "Hey dears, it's time for dinner." The words were barely out of her mouth before I see Alfie exit their room towards the kitchen, followed by Jerome. They are followed by the girls, and we all sit on our chairs around the dining table. Eddie and Mick come out of their room last, in which I see they were already changed.

There's a new girl in here too?, I ask myself as I see the new girl wave at me with that cheery smile on her face. "Hello, I'm Nina. So you must be Patricia.", she greets me. "Yeah, so what?" I reply. I don't like this new girl, I think to myself. She's too cheerful to be someone I can like, I tell myself. I look back and see all the girls glare at me, with the exception of Nina, who was still wearing that stupid smile on her face.

"Patricia, do you have to be mean to Nina? You have not met her yet.", I hear Mara ask me. Joy was nudging me a bit. I look at her, and I know that she is nudging me to be nice to Nina.

"Fine…", I say to them. "Nice to meet you, Nina", I tell her, even though everyone can hear that it was forced. "Nice to meet you too Patricia. I hope to know you better.", Nina replies in the same cheery tone.

"It's time to eat, dears!", Trudy mentions to all of us, so we all start eating the food. Just like always, Trudy's food was delicious. It almost made me forget about my little bad mood today. Almost. I mean, I can't believe that they let me sleep while they were having their girl talk in Amber's room. I know I'm not the biggest fan of girl talk, but at least they should have asked. We all finish our dinner in a short while, and we turn to our own conversations. We all talk to each other for a while, as we wait for the dessert Trudy told us to wait for. It was the housewarming dessert, she claimed.

Just then Amber speaks up. "Hey guys, I have an idea. We can continue this housewarming later after 10pm, in the attic. What do you say?" "That's a wonderful idea Ambs", Joy tells her. I see Mara agree too, and so did Jerome and Alfie. Mick also agreed.

"So, what do you say?", Amber looks towards Eddie and Nina, to which they both reply, "Sure Amber!"

As promised, dessert arrives, and it was chocolate cake. I loved chocolate cake. It was my favorite dessert of all time, but I won't let the others know that. So I discreetly get as much chocolate cake as I can on my plate. Thankfully nobody notices. I take a bite out of the cake, and it was the greatest feeling ever. If heaven were food, then this must be it. It was so good, I forgot about my bad mood and I got into a cheery mood, which was a relief, honestly. Sometimes I get tired of the act for a while, and this was one of the times. If you don't know what act I'm talking about, it's the '_seemingly not caring, being a not-so-nice person_' act. But everybody knows that.

After dessert, we head to our rooms and wait for 10pm.

"You have exactly 5 minutes…" Yeah, yeah, we know… pin drop…, I tell myself as Victor finishes with his daily 10pm mantra and leaves the hallway to go to wherever he was going after that. I know he's not in his office, because I have gone out after 10 and every time, he was not in his office/room.

We wait for 15 minutes, then we all head towards the attic silently.

**So that was it! Do you want to know what happens once they get to the attic? Will it be a normal housewarming or not?**

**Anything you might want to say? Any ideas you may want me to make into a story? Please review. I'm looking forward to it.**

**The chapter before this had some errors. I'm really sorry for that. At first I wanted it to be on Alfie's POV, but I changed it to Jerome's POV and there we have it.**

**Anyway, I'm sorry this came out a little later than I had hoped for, I just have not gotten hold of a computer for the time being. I promise to update as soon as possible.**

**The story is not yet that exciting, is it? For that, I'm really sorry. I hope to make it up to you on the following chapters.**


	8. Attic

**Hey guys, how do you feel about the varying chapter lengths, and the fact that I only use one POV per chapter? Should I continue to do so, or do you suggest I change it up a bit.**

**Anyway, I'm creating this story as I type, meaning I do not have any time to check it before posting. Sorry for any minor errors I may have missed.**

**And to We'rekindacrazylikethat, who asked if Amber liked Eddie in this story, yes. Yes she does. Let us see, shall we? I don't even know what will happen next.**

**As an early warning, I'm not really good with the mystery stuff in writing, so you may notice that the mystery parts of this story may not be as good as the others.**

**Thanks for reading guys, and now back to the story.**

_Alfie_

"Well, are you going to the attic or not?", Jerome whispers to me as we get our flashlights our cabinet, or as I'd like to call it, 'the stockroom', because it is where Jerome and I keep all our stuff, but mostly it was Jerome's prank tools. It was like a prankster's heaven in there.

"Let's go", I reply.

We tiptoe up towards the attic door, and we see Patricia, Joy, Eddie and Mick there. Victor was not in his room, so that was a relief. So if he was not there in his room, then where was he?

After a short while, Nina, Amber and Mara arrive and so Patricia tries to turn the doorknob, but the door was locked.

"Step aside, for I am here!" Jerome announced as he walks towards the door and picks the lock. It opens in seconds, and we quietly enter the attic and I close the door behind me, as I'm the last one to enter.

Wow this place was creepy at night. I have been here before, but never at night. And it was scaring me a bit. We all sit down in a circle, as instructed by Amber, and we ask questions for awhile. It was really boring, so I ask up, "Guys, I'm bored. Isn't there a game we can play?"

"What game exactly?," Patricia asks, looking a little annoyed at me.

I have not thought as far as that. So what game?, I ask myself. Before I can answer the question, Jerome breaks the silence with a proposition, "As we're here to know the two newbies better, Truth or Dare seems to be a game fit for us to play."

"Truth or Dare? No way", Patricia complains, clearly not happy with the suggestion Jerome gave us. "So, what's your suggestion then?", Jerome asks Patricia, to which she tries to think of a game, but at the end, gives up. "Fine, we're playing truth or dare!"

Jerome looks around for something to use for Truth or Dare time, while we wait for him to find one. As most of the stuff in here was covered in cloth, it took some time before Jerome found something that can be used to play Truth or dare, more specifically it looked like some kind of circular device with a spinning pointer on top. It looked like some sort of large compass, if you asked me.

"Who will go first?", Jerome asks, so I volunteer to spin the object. When I spin the object's pointer, it keeps on spinning, as if there was something in there that kept it from stopping. We wait for approximately 5 minutes, but the object keeps on spinning, so Jerome has to go find another thing to be used to play Truth and Dare. This time he just finds a discarded bottle, so he returns to the circle and hands me the bottle.

I spin the bottle, and it lands on Patricia. She rolls her eyes and looks at me. Even before I can ask Truth or Dare, she says "Truth"

I have been thinking of the dessert I just ate a while ago, so that was the question I asked.

"What's your favorite dessert?", I ask, waiting for Patricia's reply. I see her get a little embarrassed momentarily, but she puts on her normal face and reply, "Fine, it's chocolate cake!"

"W-w-wait, did you say chocolate cake?", Jerome asks to no one in particular, and then he laughs a bit, which earned him a glare from Patricia, who asked him "What do you care if I like chocolate cake?", to which he answered, "Oh nothing, I was just wondering a while ago why there was more cake in your plate than Alfie's. Now I know why."

Patricia glares at me as she gets the bottle from me and spins it.

We get tired of Truth or Dare after an hour or so, mainly because nobody wanted to take a dare, instead opting for truth all the way, apart from Eddie and Jerome, who dared to be dared and gave us some laughs.

We now stand up to fix the stuff we moved here in the attic, then suddenly I hear a thud. I look around, but it seemed that nobody else had heard it, so it must have been my imagination. Or my stomach. But then I hear it again, and I was sure I was not imagining things. I feel a little scared, so I ask the others, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?", Patricia answers back, clearly hearing nothing of the sort. We continue fixing the stuff on the attic as quietly as possible, and then we leave, one by one. I check to see if the attic was in order, as I am the last to leave, and I see what seemed to be an apparition of a girl walking towards me. With that all my hairs stood up. It was a ghost. Well, I think it was a ghost. And at that, I fainted.

I wake up to find myself sleeping on my bed, with a splitting headache. Then I hear someone whisper, "Chosen one, find your friend before it's too late." I must be imagining things, I tell to myself. I keep that thought out of my head and look at the clock. It was almost breakfast time. Jerome was already out of our room. I stand up, feeling really dizzy doing so, and the headache was not helping. I go to the bathroom and try to wash my face, not noticing that someone else was inside the bathroom.

I finish washing my face, and I look up to the mirror. It was then that I hear the shower stop and I see the shower curtains be moved. I immediately close my eyes, embarrassed that I entered the bathroom while she was in there taking a shower.

**Any guess who she might be? Review, and find out next chapter who it is. Hope this was not too boring of a chapter.**


	9. Morning Aftereffects

**Hello guys. Here I am again to disturb you with my story. Haha. Hope you enjoy reading.**

_Nina_

I hear someone enter the bathroom, just as I was about to finish taking a shower. Thinking it may be Amber, I finish showering and move the shower curtains. I saw that it was Alfie. He immediately covers his eyes with his hands. I was a little taken aback. I mean, he just entered the bathroom without checking who was in there.

"I'm sorry. I did not see you there", Alfie tried to explain as I cover myself with a towel and a bathrobe. He sounded genuinely sorry, not to mention a little embarrassed. It was clear he was telling the truth, so I tell him, "It's fine Alfie."

"No, it's not. I'm really sorry Nina. I don't mean to barge in, and please don't take me as some kind of pervert."

"It's okay Alfie, it really is.", I try to reassure him. His hands were still covering his eyes, so I tell him, "You can open your eyes now, Alfie." He slowly uncovers his eyes and opens them. He was still facing the mirror, but I know he can see me through its reflection.

He stuttered out the words, "Uhm… I'm g-going n-now Ni-na… I think I saw his cheeks blush a little bit, even though I got my whole body covered by the towel and the bathrobe. Alfie quickly leaves the bathroom. I come out a bit later, and head to our room.

I dress quickly, as breakfast was already starting, and walk to the kitchen, where everyone else was in the chair. They were chatting with each other inaudibly so I felt relieved. It seems that nobody noticed.

"Hey Nina," Amber greets me. "Hey Amber." I look towards Alfie, who was looking downward. I had to say something.

"Hey, Alfie, are you okay?", I ask. "Y-yeah Nina, it's just this headache.", Alfie replies, and it seems that he really had a headache. Trudy, hearing the conversation, asks, "Are you okay, dear? Can you manage getting to school today?"

"I'm fine Trudy, thanks for the concern.", Alfie tries to force a smile to make himself look less sick.

"Okay Alfie, just make sure you're fine."

We start eating breakfast, and I find myself looking at Alfie every now and then. He seemed a little less enthusiastic today than yesterday, seeing as he was not eating the food at the same rate he was eating yesterday. The others must have noticed it too, because they were looking at him as well. Finally Jerome asked, "Are you sure you're fine, Alfie? Cause it does not look like it." He reassures us, saying, "don't worry guys, I'll have some aspirin after breakfast."

We soon finish our breakfast and we get ready for school. Eddie and I were supposed to go to school earlier than the others because we had to know our scheduled classes.

Our last subject for the morning was English Literature, where I was seated on the back. I find myself looking over to the side to see Alfie was asleep on his desk, and Jerome trying to wake him up. Sure enough, Madam Andrews spots Alfie, and so clears her throat as loud as possible.

"Mr. Lewis!", she calls toward him, and at that, Alfie starts to stir up a bit, muttering to himself inaudibly. Then he faints and slumps back to his chair. Mrs Andrews, looking a little concerned, asks Jerome and Mick to carry him to the clinic, which they do.

The bell rings, and it was dismissal time. Trudy told us that she won't be in Anubis house for lunch, which meant that we had to go to the cafeteria. We girls sit on one table, Joy and Patricia at one side, Amber and I on the other, and Mara was on the corner.

We talk a bit about school stuff, mostly I was asking the questions, as I was new here. Which brought us to what happened just a while ago.

"Hey, guys, how do you think Alfie is now?", I ask. Patricia answers almost immediately, "He's going to be fine, Nina. Trust me on this." The others agree.

We start to eat, and I notice that Trudy's cooking was a lot better than this, which was as I expected, considering that it was a cafeteria. We finish eating after some time, in which Joy asks us, "What do you think happened to Fabes?"

I'm a little puzzled. Who was Fabes? Mara sees that I was lost, so she explains to me, "Fabes was Mick's roommate. He suddenly disappeared yesterday morning, just before you came in." "Oh, really. For what reason?", I ask. "Victor said he had to leave for a family emergency of some sort, but I don't buy it. There's just something that feels 'wrong'.", Joy tells us. "Don't be a lunatic, Joy. You're making it sound like there was some foul play involved.", Patricia told her. Joy just made a face and then we continue taking.

I look at them, studying their styles. I observe that Mara seems to be the smart one, Amber the fashionable one, Joy was a kinda sensitive girl, and Patricia was one who seemed not to like to let her feelings be known to anyone else. That was all I got…

We go back to class after lunch break. Alfie was not anywhere to be seen in class, so he must still be in the clinic.

I was in World History class when I sit next to Jerome, who was sitting on the back for a while. I ask, "How's Alfie?" "He's fine, Nina. He just left the clinic and went to Anubis house." He eyes me suspiciously, and then he asks, "Why are you so concerned about Alfie anyway?" "Oh, I'm just concerned. Thanks Jerome", I reply with my cheery tone.

I finish my afternoon class, and head towards Anubis house. Once I reach there, I open the door and see Alfie sitting on the sofa opposite the kitchen, playing what seemed to be video games on his phone. He was completely oblivious to his surroundings, so when I greet him, "Hey Alfie!", he jumps up, a little surprised. I chuckle a bit, as he mutters "You scared me there for a little bit, Nina." He smiles towards me.

"Are you okay, Alfie?"

"I'm fine now Nina, I was just not feeling very well a while ago."

"Okay"

We chat for a while as nobody else was in the house. I get to know Alfie more, which was nice, I think. He was real funny, and he had a lot of interesting stuff to say. He was not who I expected him to be, judging him from yesterday. He was a nice guy, if not for his sometimes childish behavior. He was friendly, and I found out we had some similarities in taste. His favorite color was blue, and so did I. I can't enumerate the others for the meantime. He was more than alright, and it seems that I kinda like him.

I had to get changed, so I tell Alfie, "I will be right back in a moment Alfie. I just have to get changed." "That's okay, Nins!" He yells back after me.

**I'm starting to think that I have too much time in my hands. I ask some questions in the previous chapters, and I think I'm updating too fast. Please let me know if you want more to the story, as I sometimes feel that no one may be reading this at all. But that's cool.**

**I promise to finish this story, no matter how it takes. I have tried to write stories before, never here, and somehow I always run out of steam, so I really need your help. Please review.**

**I will update once again if there's one more review.**

**Peace, y'all.**


	10. Surprising help

**To those who are still reading my fanfic, you are in luck. Here's the new chapter. To those of you who may be wondering, this is a complete revision of HoA in my not-so-brilliant mind, so there's basically nothing here that is like the original (Well, maybe some things, but you know what I mean).**

**Sadly, I own the rights to nothing, not even some creative control over HoA or any other TV shows I watch. Which is sad, really.**

**To be honest, I feel a little frustrated with the lack of interest on this fanfic. But then again, I have to make good on my promise to finish this.**

**If I ever offend anyone out there, I'm sorry.**

**Am I updating too fast? Well, I need to continue the story now, or nothing will get done.**

_Alfie_

I have not had any fun since this morning. Talking to Nina was fine, really fine indeed, but now I feel the craving to prank somebody. Nina's in their room, so it was like a go signal for me. Wait, since when did I have a go signal? I shake my head off that thought and try to think of some way for a prank.

I hear footsteps on the doorway. Thinking it maybe one of the other students, I stand up and hide on the side of the door, making sure I won't be seen as I plan to startle him/her. This will be good. The door opens, and I jump out towards the door, making a sudden sound. She screams a bit, and I realize it's Trudy and not one of the students. She drops her bag of groceries as I place both my hands on my head. Epic fail. Epic fail. Epic fail. I don't believe it.

"Alfie, why did you do that?" Trudy asks me, higher pitched than usual. I was relieved she was not angry, just somewhat startled. "I'm sorry, Trudy. I thought that… uhm… you were a student, so…". "It was just a prank then?", Trudy asked me, clearly not very happy that I made her drop her groceries, but still keeping her cool. I did not know how Trudy managed to do that, among other things here in Anubis. Never once did I see her get angry or anything. I look down and I nod. "Don't do that next time, okay Alfie?", she tells me in a kind yet serious tone. "I promise."

I help Trudy with the groceries she dropped, after all it was my fault. I hear someone go down the stairs and I see it was Nina. She must have heard the commotion. Oh, I'm really screwed now. She helped me and Trudy with the groceries, and we place them on the dining room table. We leave Trudy as I go sit down on the sofa in the waiting area. Nina sits next to me, and I feel a little embarrassed.

"What did you do, Alfie?" Nina asked In her normal voice. She was really that nice. "I thought it was one of the others, so I thought I'd startle her.", I reply, in a weak voice. I hear Nina chuckle a bit as she said, "But it turned out to be Trudy…" I look at her, and she was smiling. No, not smiling. Beaming was the right word for it. I thought I saw rays of sunshine through her hair for a second, before I realize it was just my imagination.

We continue our conversation from a while ago, before she stands up and heads to the kitchen. I follow her. We saw Trudy was making dinner, so Nina had to ask, "Can we help you with that, Trudy?", to which she answered, "It's fine sweetie. I can cook on my own, but if you really want to help, that would be great". Nina replies, "We're gonna help help Trudes, right Alfie?" "Uh, sure Nina.", I reply. So we go and help Trudy, well, after Trudy tells me to be careful when around fire and stuff.

Soon I hear the door open. I hear Jerome talking to Mick and, what was his name again. Oh, right. Eddie. I don't look around as I was holding some boiling water on a casserole. "Hey Alfie!", Jerome calls out to me. Mick adds,"Are those snacks you're holding. They can't see what I was holding because my back was facing them, so I tell them, "I'm helping Trudy and Nina cook dinner." "Helping?", Jerome asked, not clearly believing what he was hearing. "Yeah!, I'm helping. Want to help me?" I turn around, and they see the casserole I was holding.

I could not blame them for not believing me. I mean, I have never helped in cooking before this, but there was something about today that made me want to help in cooking. Maybe because it was Friday today, and there were no classes tomorrow. Or maybe it's the fact that Nina was here too. W-w-wait, Nina? How did Nina even turn up in here, I ask myself in my mind. I shake off that thought and continue helping Nina and Trudy.

"Sweetie, place the casserole here", Trudy points out to the burner, "and after that, place these nice strands of pasta." I do exactly as she instructs me, then I glance back, to see Mick and Jerome still standing there, looking at me with eyes fully opened and jaws dropped. They see me glance, so Jerome immediately says, "I'm going to our room now"… "Y-yeah, me too," Mick adds. They leave the hallway and go to their rooms, as I help Nina and Trudy with the cooking.

"What was that about?", Nina asks, wondering about Jerome and Mick's expressions a while ago, while Trudy was humming a tune. She did not need our help for the moment.

"I don't know", I tell her as I hear the door open and see Mara enter.

"Hey Mara!", Nina waves to her as she looks to us and waves back. "Hey Nina. Hey Alfie. What's up?" "Oh, we're just helping Trudy cook dinner." "Even Alfie?", Mara asks, a little surprised. "Yeah… Why, is that weird?", Nina asked, wondering why everyone was surprised I was helping cook dinner. I don't even know the answer to that question. Why was I helping cook dinner anyway? Or maybe I knew the answer, and I just don't want to acknowledge it.

I was looking at Mara, or should I say, glaring, so she replied, "No, not really." That was the end of the conversation, so Mara headed to her room as we finish helping Trudy cook dinner. She tells us, "Tell the others that dinner is at 7pm today. Victor won't be around until tomorrow, so I'll let you stay up late." We leave Trudy and head to our respective rooms.

As I enter the room, I see Jerome looking at me like I've done something very wrong. "Sit down, Mr. Lewis." He tells me, motioning to a spot beside where he was sitting. I did not know where this was going, but I sat down. He narrowed his eyes and observes me for a while, while I feel myself fidget and I feel like sucking my thumb, but I resist. "What have I done wrong?", I exclaim, a little nervous, but mostly amused by how he was acting. "Hmm, Mr. Lewis. Do I need to remind you the events that took place today?" I can have a go in this act too. I shake my head and try to make a face that looked like those people who were being interrogated by cops. Jerome shakes his head too. "Tsk tsk tsk. You see, Mr. Lewis, you have been acting strange today, and there are witnesses." He calls out, "Mick! Eddie! You can come in now." Mick and Eddie enter. Eddie waves at me, and mouths out, "He made me do this."

Jerome asks Mick, "Mick, what have you witnessed as you entered the house." "Uhm, I saw Alfie helping Trudy cook dinner." "And that was strange why?". Jerome looks at Eddie. "I don't know!", Eddie shrugs. Jerome continues, "You see Alfie, You have never helped cook dinner before, or breakfast for that matter. Why the sudden change?" I try to answer, but before I can think of one, Jerome asks further, "Is it because of the new girl, Nina?" I quickly shake my head, maybe too quickly as Jerome walks side by side with the same narrow eyes looking at me. Then he exclaims, "That's it Mick and Eddie, it's clear we can't get a confession out of him now. We will have to see next time." Mick and Eddie leave the room, as Jerome settles down a bit.

"What was that, Jer?", I ask, amused by the mock interrogation he just gave me. "I feel dramatic today.", he reasoned. He looks at his watch. "It's almost 6pm. We have to go eat dinner.", he tells me, to which I remember what Trudy told me, "Oh yeah, Trudy told us that Victor won't be here for tonight, so we get to have dinner at 7 pm and stay up late."

I go tell Mick and Eddie about it as I go to their room, to which they just thanked me. I go back to our room with Jerome and play against each other in a mobile game where you get to shoot stuff. It was fun, to say the least. We play until it was almost seven, in which we come out of our room and go towards the dining room. Nina and Mara were already there, helping Trudy prepare the dishes. Eddie and Mick follow, and then Joy and Patricia (I don't know what time they arrived, but it must have been during the 'interrogation' as we were quiet after that and we would have heard them. Not that I cared, but just to let you know) then finally Amber.

We finally settled down to eat and mind me, it was delicious. Especially as I (or Nina) helped in cooking it. I got a lot of food, as I was famished after all that staring at food. I did not notice it yet, but I was eating at a normal pace, my subconscious telling my mouth not to fill itself to its capacity as to not embarrass myself in front of others. I look up every once in a while, and feel relieved that no one was staring at me, but I notice Amber looking up at Eddie every once in a while. There must be a story there.

We finish eating, and after cleaning up the dishes and the table, we sit down on the dining chairs and we get into conversations. Then I hear the whisper, "Find him. Find him. Before it's too late." Thankfully nobody notices my change in demeanor.

I don't know why I'm hearing whispers. I had some theories as to why this was happening.

I must be going crazy.

Aliens are trying to send a message.

That ghost I saw last night.

My imagination was playing tricks on me.

And that was not all. I was also wondering why it was telling me to 'find him'. I knew it must have meant, find Fabian, but I thought Fabian left because of a family emergency or something. Why would I need to find him? That was puzzling.

**Is the story too slow-paced, or is it fine? How do you feel about this chapter?**


	11. The Dream

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed this story. You really are the ones who keep me going. Thank you, and enjoy this next installment.**

_Jerome_

I am quietly observing Alfie while we are at the dining table. He looked happy. Almost too happy. The expression on his face, I knew what it meant. There was only one other time I've seen that expression, and it was in grade school. There was this girl in class who he had developed a crush on, and he would make that expression whenever he thought of her.

I get distracted for a bit as I answer Patricia's question about the new students. "So, what do you think of them?" She motions to Nina and Eddie. "Uh, Eddie's great actually. He knows pranks. And Nina, she seems nice." "Too nice…", I hear Patricia mumble as I look at her and she was staring at Nina.

I look back at Alfie, and I saw that his expression had changed. It almost looked as if he was scared of something. He seemed to be deep in thought, which meant something wasn't right. I'm honestly getting a little freaked out now. First was the headache, then him helping cook, and now this. Something was wrong with Alfie and I was going to find out what it was, no matter what it takes.

Soon we get bored with the conversations in the dining room so I follow Alfie as he heads to our room. As soon as I enter our room, I close the door.

"What's wrong, bro. It seems like something is bothering you." He quickly shakes his head in reply, much like a child does when he was lying. "I know you man. I know when something's wrong. You can tell me." He stutters, but replies, "I think I saw a ghost last night." A ghost? I knew that Alfie gets easily creeped out, and he had an active imagination, so I had to ask, "Are you sure?" "Y-yeah, why would I hear whispers in m-my head if it was not a ghost?", he asks me. Something smelled fishy here. I had watched these scenes happen in a lot of movies we watched, so I thought he was playing a prank on me.

"Nice try Alfie, but I'm not falling for it." I was about to laugh when he told me in a voice that was so unlike Alfie, a tone so serious that I knew he was telling the truth, "I'm serious Jerome. It's not a prank." I saw him stop momentarily, then he suddenly looked very scared as he said, "I have to find him before it's too late." "Before what's too late?", I ask, puzzled as to what he was talking about. He now looked panicked, as he said, "Fabian! I have to find Fabian. Before he dies." I try to calm him down, as I tell him, "Calm down Alfie. I can't understand what you're talking about." I see him calm down a little, then he tells me, "Jerome, I-I saw Fabian die in a dream… I dreamt it after I blacked out a while ago, and now I remember exactly what I dreamt about. It felt so real, Jerome. And these whispers in my head, they keep on telling me to find him before it's too late." I saw him go pale as he passed out right in front of me.

I did not know what was going on, so I panicked a bit. I run out of the room and run towards the kitchen, knowing that some of the others were still there.

"Jerome, is something wrong?", I hear Mara ask as she, Nina and Joy were about to leave the dining room table. "It's Alfie! He just passed out in our room. I don't know what to do.", I reply, not knowing what else to say. "Is he alright?", Nina asked, concern in her eyes. "I-I don't know. What do I do?", I ask again, this time my voice sounded more panicked. "What happened, exactly?", Joy asked, folding her hands as if she did not believe what I was saying. She must be thinking that this was a prank. Mara seemed far less convinced that it was a prank, and Nina seemed like she knew it was not a prank. "Settle down, Jer. Tell us what happened", Mara tells me.

"Alfie was saying something about finding Fabian before it was too late, then he just blacked out.", I try to explain. "Fabes?", Joy asks me, but before I can answer, she starts to run towards mine and Alfie's room, followed by me and Nina, then Mara as she held a glass of water.

**So hey, that was chapter 10. A little short, wasn't it? Look out for the next chapter to find out what happens next. Peace to y'all. Sorry to leave you hanging.**


	12. Sibuna

**Thanks for all the reviews. I appreciate them all.**

_Joy_

I reach Jerome's and Alfie's room first, so I open the door and I see Alfie lying on the floor, clearly unconscious. Jerome and Nina are right behind me, and after them was Mara holding a glass of water.

I thought at first that Jerome was playing a prank on me, but I was wrong. Jerome was telling the truth. I knew that Fabian's disappearance did not seem right, and now I get the chance to prove that I was right in thinking that something bad happened to him. But I hoped that nothing bad happened to my best friend Fabes.

"What exactly did Alfie say to you about Fabes?", I interrogate Jerome, as he looks back at me and said, "Alfie had a dream. In his dream he saw Fabian die, and then he said, almost pleaded that we had to find him before it was too late." There was something more that Jerome was not telling me, I was sure, but this situation needed to be resolved quickly, so I decided against asking any more questions for the meantime.

We waited for Alfie to stir up, as he was still unconscious. Mara was about to tell Trudy what happened to Alfie, but just as she stood up to tell her, we heard Alfie groan. He was not fully awake yet, but he kept on mumbling something we did not understand.

"What are you talking about, Alfie?", I tried to ask him, when he woke up all in a sudden, looking around, fear clearly etched on his face. He looked puzzled as he asked, "How did you get here?", motioning to us three girls in their room?" Jerome tells him, "You passed out man. I did not know what to do, so I went to the living room to ask for help."

His face turned very serious, as he looked at all of us. Then he said, "This may sound weird guys, but I need to find Fabian. He's in grave danger." Mara looked at him and sked, "What are you talking about, Alfie? I thought Fabian left to resolve some family emergency." "I thought so too Mara, until this morning, when I started hearing whispers in my mind which told me to find Fabian before it's too late." "Before what's too late?", I ask Alfie, to which I see him swallow his words, and he looked scared again as he did not answer my question. "What about the dream Jerome told us?", I tried to ask Alfie again, to which he burst to tears. He then started sobbing, and all we could do was to sit there next to him as he continued to cry.

"Joy, you don't want to know about the dream.", Alfie told me with a determined tone. "Why, Alfie?", I ask him, demanding to know why he would not tell me what he saw in the dream Jerome told us about. "H-he was killed in front of me, okay?", he screamed, loud enough for shut us up but not loud enough for the others to have heard us. "And I could not do anything to save him!", he continued, in which we were all stunned there in front of him.

Alfie has never had an outburst like this before, and it worried all of us. Jerome tried to make him feel better by saying, "Its fine, Alfie. It was just a dream.", but he shook his head, still sobbing, and told us, "You don't understand, it was not just a dream. It will happen." I started to feel a little angry at him for saying that about Fabian, my Fabes.

"How can you even say that about Fabes, Alfie!", I cried out, to which he screamed, "You don't know what I just saw, Joy. You don't know!" "Then tell me Alfie. Tell me about your f**king dream!", I yell. Mara, Nina and Jerome just looked at both of us, shocked that we were yelling towards each other. Alfie then told us this, this time in a very low voice, "I just had another dream…" I roll my eyes, at which Mara glared at me and Jerome shook his head. "All of you were in the dream…", he continued, looking down the whole time and trying to think straight. "Did you know what you looked like, Joy?", Alfie asked me in a very sad voice, but before I could respond, he continued, "You – all of you – all of you were just lying around me – you were all dead." He then told us, "Please forgive me guys, please do forgive me." He then covered his face with his hands and started crying again.

"Stop crying Alfie. We forgive you", Nina tries to comfort Alfie, in which he slowly stops crying and looks towards us. I felt guilty for doing what I just did to Alfie, shouting at him and all that. "I'm sorry Alfie. I did not know.", I tell him. He just nods, clearly too tired to speak and in a few moments, he falls asleep. Jerome then carries him to his bed, and we all leave their room towards the living room, where to our surprise, nobody was around.

"We have to do something to help Alfie", Mara tells us, clearly concerned by what just happened on Jerome and Alfie's room. "What about Fabes?", I ask, to which they all glare at me. "What if what Alfie was saying is all true? Then we have to find Fabes.", I defend myself. They think about what I said, after which Mara said, "I agree Joy. We need to help Alfie find Fabes, or he may go insane." "Mara, don't say that! Alfie is not insane", Jerome tells us. "Sorry", Mara apologizes. "But how do we help him find this Fabian guy?", Nina asks us. We have not thought of that. How exactly would we help Alfie find Fabes if we did not know where he was? "I don't know, Nina. But we have to promise to help him if he goes to look for Fabian.", Jerome tells us. Mara then thinks for a second, then suggests, "What if we do this more organized?" "What do you mean, organized?", I ask, puzzled at what Mara was saying. "What is we make our own group to help Alfie, you know, the four of us?" We think deeply for a second, and decide that it was a wonderful idea. We all agreed to Mara's suggestion, but with a question from Jerome. "What do we call it?". We all think of a name to use, but it was not that easy. Then I saw Nina brighten up. "Why don't we call it Sibuna?" We all looked at her, not sure what Sibuna meant. "What does that mean?", Mara asked her, to which she explained, "Sibuna. You reverse the letters of Anubis, and…" We all realized what she meant, and I had to say, it was a wonderful name. Mara and Jerome seemed to think so too, so I spoke up. "Sibuna it is then!" They all cheered at that.

"We need to tell Alfie that we will be there to help him.", Nina tells us. "Leave that to me.", Jerome assures her as we try to talk about what Sibuna will be as a whole, and whether we tell the others about what happened, or not, We decide not to tell them about it, as we all agreed Alfie had to agree before we told them. Just then, we hear the front door open as Mick and Eddie enter, followed by Amber and Patricia.

"Hey guys, where have you been?", I ask them, to which Mick replied with his mouth full, "We just went to buy snacks", pointing to him and Eddie and of course, that bag full of junkfood. "Don't do that, Mick! It's disgusting", Patricia told him. We all laughed. Amber added, "I just went to buy makeup. My powder and eyeliner had just been used up." "And I just accompanied them.", Patricia complained, but I knew she was lying, as I spot what seemed to be a trace of chocolate cake on her shirt. Patricia looks at where I was looking and spots it too, so she quickly covers it up with her hand. Amber then asks, "What about that slice of chocolate cake?" , to which Patricia glares at her and says, "Stop with the chocolate cake. She looked furious, but I knew it was just an act, at which Amber, getting into the act, replies, "Sorry", with a long ee at the end to make her point. Patricia grumbles and then says, "Fine, it was because of the chocolate cake."

Amber then asks us, "What about you guys, what were you doing here?" "Oh, we're just talking about school stuff", Nina reasons out. "Where's Alfie?", Mick asks, noticing that he was not here with us. "Oh, he just went to sleep. Probably bored with school talk, right girls?", Jerome looks at us. "Y-yeah, he did." I add. "Okay.", Mick tells us and they all head to their rooms, Mick, Eddie, Patricia and Amber.

"Phew, that was a close one!", I tell them. "I know, right?", Mara adds as she wiped her forehead. There was a little sweat on it. "Let's go to our rooms now too. It's clear we have nothing more to talk about", Nina suggests to us. "What about Sibuna?", I ask, to which Mara replies, "Let's talk about it tomorrow after Jerome asks Alfie about this." "Okay!", I whisper back as we all head to our rooms.

**So that was the unofficial creation of Sibuna! Yay! Sorry I could not make it better.**

**Question: Why was Alfie asking the 4 of them to forgive him? I am looking forward to your guesses! Please review.**


	13. The Star Wars Episode

**To BlackCat46, that's a really good guess you gave on the review last chapter. I won't say if you're right or wrong as I will give a spoiler to the rest of the story if I do so.**

**Also, check out my other story, Silence after War. It takes place in the future. It's not related to this one at all.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the computer I'm typing this on.**

_Mick_

Eddie was a really cool guy. It had only been 2 days and he was like, my best friend now. Looking at him, one may not realize he was very good in sports, but he was good in sports and now I had a friend who liked the same things I did. I think he is a better roommate than Fabian. Not to take anything from Fabian, but sometimes I did not understand those nerd things he used to talk about.

So, we were eating a lot of junk food while watching a Star Wars movie marathon in our room. I know it was not a healthy practice to eat junk food while watching very late at night, but this was a one-night thing only. Besides, I have not seen Star Wars yet, and Eddie was talking all about it and what they were all about. And he also suggested that we watch Episode 4-6 first, as it was the first 3 movies from the franchise, and he said it was the better 3 films. I ageed, and we proceeded to watch them.

Midway through the second film, we heard someone knock. Eddie stands up to open the door, and I see Jerome standin there.

"Yo, man. What's up?", I heard Eddie ask Jerome, to which he answered, "I can't sleep bro, and I thought you two were still awake, so here I am." I see Jerome look inside, and then he asks us, "What's up?" "Oh, it's just an American movie marathon", Eddie replies. "What movie?", Jerome asks, looking a little more interested than he was a while ago. "Star wars… Do you want to watch?", Eddie motions inside. "Sure. I can't sleep anyway." Jerome enters our room and we continue watching Star Wars.

It was mostly quiet after that, as our eyes were all focused on the laptop screen while our hands were busy picking up junk food and placing it in our mouths. I had to say, these movies were good. Not really a great movie, but it was a boys' night movie for sure.

When the third film was finished, I ask Jerome, "Where's Alfie?" "He's sleeping.", Jerome tells me. I should have known. Alfie was the heavy sleeper type. Once last year, he even slept through the whole morning in a school day.

"Should we watch the prequels?", Eddie asks us, pointing at the Episodes 1-3 of Star Wars. I look at my watch. 1:37 AM. It was way too late for my normal sleeping routine, and also Jerome's. I decided I had nothing to waste anyway, so I tell Eddie, "Let's watch. It's too late for us to sleep anyway" Jerome stayed while we were about to start the movie, which meant he was going to watch too.

It was almost 6:30 in the morning when the credits of Star Wars Episode 3 was rolling. Eddie looked at us. "What do you think?" I honestly thought the movies were cool, so I replied, "It's really great, Eddie!" We looked to Jerome, who said, "It was good… Real good… But I did not watch all of it, so I was kinda lost." Eddie looked happy hearing our positive reviews about Star Wars. It must have been his favorite movie franchise of all-time. I can see it in his face.

Jerome leaves our room first to check up on Alfie, and we come out of the room later after making sure that we have picked up all the plastic (and food) that we scattered on the floor. Eddie went straight to the trash bin outside to throw out our garbage, while I headed to the living room, where Patricia and Trudy were the only ones who were around.

Patricia looks at me and comments sarcastically, "You look really great today Mick. Your eyes match how you look too." I roll my eyes, before realizing that I have not washed my face yet. I bring out my phone, and look at my reflection on the screen. Man, I did not look great. I head towards the bathroom after getting my towel and my underwear. Thankfully nobody was showering, so I take a shower.

**This is just a filler chapter. I just felt that the other students were not given as much attention as the main characters. I will post the next chapter immediately after this.**


	14. The Star Wars sequel

_Eddie_

I'm glad Mick and Jerome liked Star Wars. Especially Mick. I think I got off to a right start with him, and I just knew that we were to be good friends.

I enter the house after I dispose the trash, and I see that Mick was not in the living room. I look around, and I see Amber come down the stairs. She looked gorgeous. A small part of my mind wondered why she was already wearing makeup as it was just 6:30 am, but that thought was pushed away by the prevailing thought to just appreciate her beauty.

"Hi gorgeous.", I heard myself say before realizing what I just said, and I felt somewhat embarrassed. But I stand by what I said and tried to look normal. "Hey, Eddie!", Amber replied, smiling at me and w-wait… Was that a blush? I keep my mind off that thought and walk towards our room, but not before I return Amber's smile. I had to act normal or she might know that I like her.

As I head towards my room, Jerome comes out of their room, followed by Alfie. That was when I realize how Jerome looked, and I thought to myself, 'That must be how I look too. And I just smiled at Amber. That's embarrassing', I think to myself. It was obvious that Jerome did not sleep. I could see it in his eyes.

I continue walking towards our room. When I enter the room, I realize that Mick was not there. He must be in the shower, I thought as I check my reflection in the mirror. I decide that washing my face will do as taking a shower would take longer. I head towards the bathroom and wash my face as Mick was still showering, but not before I warned him that I will enter the room. After I finish washing my face and my hair, I go back to our room and try to fix my hair. Then I head out towards the living room. Patricia and Amber were there talking about something I couldn't hear. They must have realized I was the one who walked towards the living room as they suddenly stopped taking. Patricia rolled her eyes while Amber looked at me and smiled. I did not know what that was all about, so I just shrug and walked towards one of the chairs.

Trudy was about to serve breakfast. I know that because a few minutes after I sit down, she asks me, Amber and Patricia to help her set up the food and the plates around the dining table. So we help her, and afterwards she calls out to everyone, "Hey guys, It's time for breakfast." Joy arrives first from her room, followed by Mara and Nina from their room, then Mick, who just came from the shower, and finally Jerome and Alfie, who just walked in the house from outside. They were both quiet. They looked as if they had just finished arguing about something, and they sure did not want to talk about it.

So, we finally get to eat breakfast just as Jerome and Alfie sit down. I get myself a lot of food, as I was really hungry because of, you know, lack of sleep. Mick does the same thing, then the others get their own serving of food, until we all fill our plates. The food was really delicious, and now I am beginning to expect this from our housemother Trudy. She was one great cook, that's for sure.

We finish eating and I head back to our room to crash the bed, feeling a little sleepy. In a matter of minutes, I fall asleep.

**Sorry for this disappointing chapter. Just like the one before this, it's just a filler chapter I made to give the other students some attention. I'm also sorry that I did not post this chapter immediately. I thought I was gonna finish the chapter earlier, but that didn't work out. I'll post the next one right after this. It's already finished, but I just want to wait. **


	15. Pointer

_Mara_

It was just after breakfast and most of us were still here in the dining area, apart from Eddie, who left for their bedroom, and then Mick, who followed a few minutes later. I could just see in their eyes that they both stayed up all night, and did not get any sleep at all. Jerome's eyes also looked like they were up all night, and before I can stop myself, I ask Jerome, "What did you three do last night? You look like you haven't slept all night?" Jerome replies, "I could not sleep, so I went to Mick and Eddie's room, where I saw them watching a movie, so I joined them. And no, I have not slept all night." "What movie did you watch?", Joy asks him. Jerome replies, "Oh, we watched Star Wars. All of them." "What's it about?", I ask as I have not seen the movie, or even heard of it. "Oh, it's just a sci-fi movie. At least I think it was sci-fi. It was a space movie, as far as I can tell.", he replies. "Okay, was it good?" "Yeah, it was, but it's a movie that I think you girls may not like.", Jerome comments. Nina speaks up, "Well, I have seen Star Wars, and they were not bad movies. But I have to agree with Jerome, it is not a girls' type movie."

We talk about something else for a while, before everyone gets bored talking about unimportant stuff. We were all about to head to our rooms, when I see Jerome was trying to tell us something. He was motioning to Nina, Joy and I to stay behind. Joy and Nina also notice, so we stay behind here at the dining table as Patricia and Amber head up to their rooms.

"So, why did you make us stay here, Jerome?", Joy asks him, in which he replies, "I have told Alfie about last night, and he needs to tell us something." He motions towards Alfie, who whispers "Y-yeah, about that… We can't talk about it here. I can't risk letting the others know." "Know about what?", Joy asks, even though she knows full well what Alfie was talking about. "How about the attic?", Nina suggests, at which Alfie thinks for a moment and agrees.

We all go towards the attic silently, and close the door behind us so that no one will walk in to what we will be talking about.

"So Jerome just told me about you guys wanting to help me find Fabian. Are you sure you want to help?, because I think that I may place you all in danger, and I can't live with myself if ever something bad happens to you guys while helping me." I did not realize that Alfie can get this serious and that he was concerned about us. Joy spoke first, "I will help you, Alfie. To find Fabes." Nina talks next, "I may not know of this Fabian person yet, but I will help you guys, even if my life was at stake." Jerome says next, "Hey bro. You know I'll always be there for you. Partner…" "How about you, Mara?", Alfie looks to me. "Of course I'll help, Alfie. You never know when you may need my expertise."

"Anyway, I'm sorry guys for the outburst I had last night…", Alfie apologizes to us. "No Alfie, it's my fault… I'm sorry, I did not know…", Joy tells him. "Nobody else must know about this. I don't want to put more people in trouble. Please.", Alfie pleads to us, and so we promise him that we won't tell anyone else about it.

"So what was this group Jerome was telling me about?", Alfie asks us, now sounding a little less serious but still… "Oh, yes. It's called Sibuna. We created it so as to help you find Fabian.", I tell him. Alfie looked a little puzzled, and so he asked, "What's Sibuna?" "Oh, it's the reversal of the letters of Anubis.", Nina explains as she smiles toward him. Alfie smiles back at Nina. Hmmmm… There must be something there. Sparks maybe?

"So how do we find Fabes?", Joy asks Alfie. "Honestly guys, I don't know where to start looking. But I was hearing voices in my head last night", Alfie admits. "What did it say?", I ask. "The voice was telling me something about a compass to guide us towards what we're looking for.", he tells me. Then it hit him. "Wait a minute, guys. I think I know what it was all about. He looks around, and after a while, he finds the object that he was looking for. I recognized it as the object that we were supposed to use to play truth or dare. Apparently, so does Nina, Jerome and Joy. "Wait, don't tell me we're playing truth or dare.", Joy starts to say before being interrupted by Alfie. "No, we're not playing truth or dare. But I think this is the compass that will guide us toward Fabian." I thought at first that he was joking, but that was before I looked at the object again. Alfie was still holding it, and suddenly the point began to spin on its own. We all noticed what was happening and honestly, it was getting us all freaked out. The point started to gain speed as it spun around its center, then it suddenly stopped. Then the compass started glowing. I look towards the others, then I realize that Alfie's face looked startled and unmoving. He was staring, but it seemed like he was not seeing anything. He just sat there motionless in front of us, and a second later, everyone else notices what happened. Nobody knew what to do, as we were all either surprised or a little scared about what was happening in front of our eyes. Then the compass point started spinning again, and Alfie snapped out of his trance.

"What happened?", I ask Alfie, in which he stuttered, "uh… I-I saw s-something." "What is it? Is it about Fabes?", Joy asks, and Alfie nods. "Was it another dream?", Nina asks. "I-I'm not sure. But I was in it. At first I heard a girl screaming for help in the woods. I run towards the noise and see it was the ghost girl which I saw here two nights ago. But she was not a ghost in it, guys. She was a real girl. I talked to her for a while and she introduced herself to me. I ask her why she was screaming for help, when she told me that she was looking for the chosen one. But when she saw me, she said that she had found him. Then she told me to go find her older self and ask her about my dreams so that she can help me, as she slowly became older until she became very old, like really old. Then she disappeared, but before that she warned me of a black bird. I looked around and-and… I saw s-something I didn't want to see." He looked terrified at that very moment, and we decided not to ask him about it.

At that very moment, we heard Victor's voice, and we hear him ask Trudy, "Where are the children?". I did not hear Trudy's reply, but then Victor started to walk up the stairs. I thought for sure that we were found out, but I sighed when I heard the footsteps were not getting closer to the attic door. We tried to tiptoe out the attic, but Joy tripped on some of the boxes and hit the floor with a thud.

"Anybody up there?", Victor's booming voice was heard around the whole house, as he now started to walk towards the attic door. We can hear his footsteps get closer, so Alfie goes to hide the compass on the attic, knowing that Victor will capture the object once we were caught with it, and we needed to find Fabian."

Just then we hear the attic door open. It was Victor. "I know you're up there! Come down Immediately!" We knew we were found out, so we decide to all go down as Victor was waiting at the door.

"Miss Mercer, Miss Martin, Miss Jaffray, Mr. Clarke and Mr. Lewis. Wait here as I decide upon your punishments." Victor walks up to the attic, looks around for a second, and comes back down. "I have decided upon your punishments." I thought I saw Victor smile, and when he told us what we needed to do, I knew why.

"Miss Mercer, Miss Martin and Miss Jaffray, clean all the furniture in Anubis house with this." He hands us one feather each, then he adds, "I want to see them spotless when I walk down tonight. Mr. Clarke and Mr. Lewis, you two will be cleaning the school's toilets with this!" He hands them a worn-out toothbrush each and walks toward his office, looking content.

"I'm sorry I have to put you into this trouble.", Alfie tells us after Victor went inside his office. "It's okay, Alfie.", Nina replies and smiles toward Alfie. Alfie smiles back, and I knew then and there that there were mutual sparks there. They just look so right for each other.

**That was it. Do you like this chapter? Please review!**


	16. Cleanup Aftereffects

**Wow, this update was later than I expected it to be. I have been busy the past few days, but here I am, back and on hold of a computer.**

**Well, here's the next installment.**

_Nina_

We three girls look at each other, a feather in hand, as we try to think on what approach we are going to use in cleaning all the furniture. Jerome and Alfie have just left to walk towards the school. Amber and Patricia come out of their rooms and see us.

Patricia looks at the feathers we are holding. Just then she laughs at us, while Amber asks Mara, "What did you girls do?", in which Mara replies, "We were in the attic." Patricia stops laughing, then asks Joy, "What were you doing in the attic anyway?" Joy seems to think on what she will say, "Uh, we – we were just looking for e-er-stuff. Right, girls?" Joy looks to both of us, and we quickly nod. "Okay", Amber says as she leaves the room, while Patricia narrows her eyes at us. "Hmmmm…", I hear her say, then she just leaves us to ourselves after that.

"So, how are we going to do this?", Joy asks us. She clearly has as much of an idea as I have, so we both look towards Mara, who speaks up. "Don't look at me, I'm not good at this either." We sit down for a while, until Joy thinks of something. "Hey, I think it would be better if we split up and clean different areas of the house, yeah?" "Okay", we both agree to her suggestion. "So how should we split up then?" Mara asks Joy, in which she replies, "That depends, Mara. Where do you want to clean?" Mara looks around and decides, "I think I should just clean the second floor." Joy looks at me and asks, "What do you think, Nina?" "Sure, Mara. No problem. So how do we split the first floor of this house?" Joy thinks for a minute, then replies, "How about one cleans the area of the kitchen and living room, while the other cleans the other parts?" I think for a second, and I had to agree, it was a good plan. "Sure Joy, what areas do you want to clean?" "I think it's better for me to clean the other areas of the place. What do you think?" "Sure, Joy. No problem."

With that we all head out to our respective areas and start cleaning the furniture and vases and all that stuff. It was not that easy to clean with only one feather at hand, but it was easier than I thought it would be. It was a plus that I knew how to clean at home with my Grandma, otherwise it would have taken more time to finish cleaning the furniture.

I was almost done cleaning all the furniture on the table when Patricia entered the living room and 'accidentally' tripped on the duster. It was full of dust. I gasp and look at her, baffled at why she did that.

"Oh, I'm sorry Nina. I did not mean to do it", Patricia told me in an obviously lying voice. I wanted to be angry, but I had the better judgment not to. I take a deep breath, and tell her, "Its fine, Patricia." I saw her roll her eyes at me and leave towards her room, and I wondered why she was being so mean to me. Maybe she does not like me at all, or maybe that's who she really is. Well, at least she was the only one mean towards me. The others were all either indifferent or kind towards me. I expected worse, really, and I have to be grateful that the reception seemed generally warm.

I sigh, and go clean up the dust that Patricia had just unsettled, as I wipe a sweat from my forehead. At least, I think to myself, I was almost done cleaning all of the furniture here.

As I was cleaning the remaining dust, someone enters the living room. I look up and sigh in relief when I saw that it was Joy. "Joy. Are you finished cleaning?" She replies, "I'm almost done, Neens. I just came here for a drink. How about you?" "Well, Joy, I'm almost done here too. How about Mara? Is she okay up there?" "I haven't gone up there yet, so I don't really know. But I think she'll be fine." I think for a while, deciding if I ask Joy about Patricia and why she was being mean towards me, but my mouth has already decided on what to do.

"Joy, why is Patricia being mean to me?" Joy looks to me, then replies, "Nina, don't worry about Patricia. She's like that, especially if it's a newcomer. You will be friends soon, I promise." "Ok, thanks Joy" "You're welcome, Neens." Joy gets the water and then leaves the room towards the area where she's cleaning at. Sometime later, I finish cleaning the whole kitchen and living room furniture. Satisfied, I go find Joy, who is at the corridors.

"Joy, do you need any help?" "Not really. I'm already finished cleaning all but this one here", she replies, pointing to the small table she was currently cleaning. "Okay then Joy, I'll go see Mara upstairs. Maybe she needs my help." "Sure, Neens."

I walk upstairs and find Mara cleaning one of the corner vases. I walk towards her and ask, "Mara? Need any help?" "Sure, Nina. I appreciate any help." "Where have you not finished cleaning yet?" "Oh, the table over there is not yet done, and then the other vase over there." She points towards the other corner. "I'll get started with this table then.", I exclaim as I walk toward the table she pointed at and started cleaning it. We talk for a while as we clean all the remaining furniture, before Joy comes upstairs and joins us in cleaning the last ones left uncleaned.

It takes us a little while, but we finish cleaning all the furniture in the house and so we head towards our rooms to change, and head towards the shower, one after the other. I was the last one to go shower, and as I come out of the shower room, with only my towel on, someone collides with me. We fall to the floor on the same time.

"I'm sorry Nina, I'm sorry. I-I did not see you there. I'm really sorry", Alfie tries to apologize, seeing that my face looked somewhat angry. Just then I see Jerome enter and run towards us. He sees us and laughs. "Whoa Alfie, slow down. What are you doing?" Jerome tells him, chuckling. That's when I realize the position we were in. Alfie was in front of me, and it kinda looked like we were doing 'it'. Alfie must have realized the same thing, as he stood up faster than lightning. I was a little embarrassed too, while Jerome, seeing how uncomfortable we looked, headed towards their room.

"Please, Nina. I'm sorry. This is already the second time I have done something to you these past few days, and I'm…" Alfie looks at me, as I was smiling a bit. I don't know why I was smiling, but I was smiling, and it was a real smile. "Nina, why are you smiling?"

Whoa, why was I smiling? What's happening here? There were a lot of questions in my mind, but it seemed that my mouth had a mind of its own. "Oh, Alfie. You just seem to be running to me every time. Maybe it's no accident." I saw Alfie's face turned to look more embarrassed than before, as he looks down and starts to leave. "I'm sorry Nina, I promise not to do it again. I'll be more careful around you next time. Will you forgive me?" I stand up and look towards him. "Hey Alfie, don't make promises you can't keep. And yes, I forgive you Alfie." Alfie sighs in relief. "Are we cool?" "Of course we are, Alfie." "You're very nice, Nina… I like you."

Wait, did Alfie just say that? I must have misheard what he just said, because it sure sounded like he said 'I like you'. A small part of me was overjoyed with what I just heard, but I had to be rational. "I like you too Alfie, but just as a friend…", I tell him, 'for the meantime', my mind continues, but I dare not say that out loud.

I do like him. He's funny and a nice guy, I was sure, but this was too early for me to like him like that. Heck, I just met him. It's – It's just – not right. My mind comes up with a million reasons as to why I should not like Alfie. I just stood there, thinking.

"Are you alright Nina? Did I hurt you?" Alfie asks me, concerned that I was not moving. "Oh, Alfie. There's no problem. Uh, I'll just go now, okay?", I stammer a bit at the last sentence. "Okay, Nina."

I head up towards our room, still thinking about what I should do, while holding my towel tightly around me. When I reach our room, I get changed and just lie down on my bed.

"Are you all right?", Mara asks me, looking up from the book she was reading. "Y-yeah, Mara. I'm just imagining things, thinking. That's all." Amber was not in the room, thankfully. Mara continues reading the book, and I did not realize it as I fall asleep, thinking about Alfie.

**I hope some of you are still reading this fanfic, and all of its chapters. Please review, if you still care enough to review.**

**To anyone I may have hurt/offended out there, I'm sorry.**

**Check out my other stories. One is titled, Silence after war, and it's another House of Anubis fanfic, then I have a new one. It's based on the TV show Community. If you're into that, then that's cool… Check it out. It's titled, Isle of the Beginning.**

**Last Note: I am now accepting suggestions for a new story. That is, if you want to. PM me if you want to send me an idea.**


	17. Fabian and 2 shadows

**Thank you, SibunaMockingjay and believenyourdreems (and everyone I may have missed while writing this chapter) for your encouraging reviews on this story. I appreciate it very much.**

**This chapter of the story will be about Fabian (Yay!). I felt that I needed his presence to the story, and in this chapter, two other characters will be introduced. I hope you will like it.**

_Fabian_

I was feeling dazed. I did not want to wake up, but something was pulling me. I open my eyes and I realize that I'm in a dark room, and I was strapped to a chair in the middle of the room. I was feeling a little pain on the back of my head, but I did not know why I was feeling that way. I was feeling a little dizzy at first, not being able to focus my eyes anywhere, but then I hear a thud as I think a door was being opened and closed. I weakly lift my head and see a person getting close to me.

He smiled at me, no, grinned at me as he observes me for a moment and then he clears his throat to speak. "Hello, Fabian Rutter. I see that you are awake." I look at the person, whose face I don't recognize, but it looked like he was one of those kinds of people who would hurt you to get what he wanted. "Who are you?", I asked, feeling a little scared of this guy who was looking at me with mischief in his eyes. "You don't want to know who I am, I tell you. Besides, that is not the right question to ask, is it?" This guy is making me a little angry. "What am I doing here?" He smiles at me and replies, "Now that's the right question, and believe me when I tell you the answer. You see, Fabian, you are a very important person to me. I need you here, so I can't let you escape from me. You are that important. If you ever try to escape, you will pay for it with pain, and not just a little pain. It will be a lot of pain. I will promise you that if you dare to escape from this place, I will make you lose your will to live. And to make your suffering worse, I won't let you die. You would need to do that yourself." He smiled at me, and that was when I knew that this was not one of Jerome and Alfie's pranks. I thought of that at first, but now I knew otherwise. He then turns back to the door to leave, and when he was about to close the door behind him, he said, "Your friends will find you very soon. I'm looking forward to the moment they join our little party here." He closes the door behind him with a lot of force, making me jump a bit in the chair I was sitting on.

I stared at the door for a while, waiting for any movement to take place, but there was nothing. The room was quiet, and I started having dark thoughts in my mind.

What if I try to escape? Will I survive? If I decide to stay, what will the guy do to me? What was he talking about, saying that my friends will find me very soon? What has happened to them? What did this guy want from me? If I die, will my friends find me? What if they get hurt? Are they looking for me? Where was this place? There are a lot of things I had going on in my mind, and all I could do is to stare out the door. I was strapped with what seemed to be a modified straitjacket which held my arms away from any object. I could not move very much, so I decided to stay put.

I don't know how I fell asleep, but when I opened my eyes, there was someone in front of me. It was not the same guy. In fact, it wasn't a guy at all. It was a woman, and she was holding what seemed to be food. The woman must have spotted that I was awake, as she walked closer to me.

"You have to eat if you want to live", she motions to the food she was holding. I motion to my hand with my head, at which she nods at me and says, "I know. It's why I'm here. I have to feed you, thanks a lot to my boss who wants to keep you alive and breathing." I had second thoughts about eating the food that was being given to me. After all, these people are the ones who kidnapped me and brought me to this place. "Are you sure that when I eat this, I won't be poisoned or something?" "No, of course not. My boss wants to keep you alive." I had to eat the food. I did not eat for a while, so even though I was in no mood for eating, I had to eat. I was starving.

The woman then proceeded to spoon-feed me. I hated it, but there was nothing I could do. My hands were tied behind me, so I can't really hold the plate or the spoon. She was becoming somewhat frustrated with how slow I was eating, but how could I eat any faster. I was weak, and I did not really have the appetite. She speaks up, "Come on. Eat the food, please. I will be in a lot of trouble if my boss finds out that you are not being treated well, or if you are sick." I saw the scared look she had in her eyes, and the pleading voice made it look as if she was really terrified of the man who came here a while ago. I felt a little sorry for her, so I ate faster than before and made sure that I ate all the food.

"Thank you Fabian, and I'm sorry this happened to you. But I can't let you escape, lest my boss will surely kill me." She leaves me at the room and I was alone again.

Why was this happening to me? What was so special about me that they needed to keep me alive? Who was she? What was I supposed to do now? I continued thinking a lot about everything that happened before I got here. That was when I remembered something. I went out after curfew in Anubis house as I went to take a walk in the woods, then I felt something hit the back of my head. The next thing I remember, I was already here. I had no idea where I was and how long I was out, but I had a feeling it was not that short a time.

**That's the end of this chapter. Was it a little underwhelming? I hope not. See you again next chapter.**

**Any guess who the man and woman are? Please review.**


	18. Recovery

**No one reviewed the latest chapter of my story, but that's OK. Sorry for taking me a while to add this chapter. I love you all.**

_Patricia_

"Patricia, why are you being so mean to Nina?", Joy asked me, as if she did not know. I tell her, "She's just too nice, Joy. It makes me think she is hiding something. Nobody can be that nice." "You know, not everyone is like you, Patricia. Some people can be nice, like Nina." I roll my eyes at her. "Are you on her side, Joy?" Joy glares at me, and says, "Maybe, maybe not." She looks away from me as she crosses her arms. I know that look. I know what it meant, so I just roll my eyes again and leave the room, but not before saying, "See you again, Joy!", with emphasis on her name.

I did not really like that new girl. She was way too nice, and it made me feel a little unsettled. I plan to watch her actions here. I was that suspicious.

I went down to the living room, just as Mick comes out of their room, rubbing his eyes. He looks at me, then asks, "Hey, Patricia. Do you have a problem? You seem mad" He walks closer to me, then sits down on the living room. "Nope, no problems at all." I lie, but he did not seem to buy it. "Come on, Trish. You're a better liar than that. I know you, but if you don't want to talk about the problem, that's fine." I blurt out suddenly, "It's that new girl Nina. I don't like her. She seems too nice not to have some kind of ulterior motive. I don't trust her at all." Mick looks at me, then says, "Don't you think it's a little too early to judge her? I mean, she just arrived less than a week ago." I grumble, but I see where he was coming from and I reply, "Fine. I'll wait one more week."

A little while later, Mick asks me. "Do you want to play sports outside? Eddie is still asleep, and I can't think of anyone else to do it with." "Sure Mick. I'm glad to be your second choice." I meant for it to sound sarcastic, but it came out like I really meant what I just said, which meant I must have partially meant it.

I changed to my sports attire as Mick opted for a quick shower before we both headed outside to play a bit of tennis, then some basketball. I know, a girl who plays basketball is not that great to look at, but trust me, it was a game suited for women. Sure, Mick beat me as he was more athletic than me, but I did not care. It was fun playing sports.

**This is just a short chapter to keep you guys entertained. You like it? Review.**


	19. Amber's idea

**Welcome readers. Behold this new chapter.**

**A shoutout to SibunaMockingjay (guest reviewer). Thank you for the kind words, and I'm glad that you feel the same way I do (although it's still a little sad).**

**Check out my new story, titled "Inside the Mind of the Dark", or if that's not your thing, read my other HoA story, "Silence after War". See you next time, and smiles. **

_Amber_

I am now in a taxi, as I am now heading back to Anubis house after seeing my father in town. I guess he missed his favorite daughter, which by the way, was me. He also gave me my monthly allowance, which he told me specifically to 'shop for the best stuff out there'. I guess he really knows what I like to do, shopping. Speaking of shopping, once my father left, I have been in a wonderful shopping spree, with lots of new makeup, new clothes, among other things, and it only cost me a third of my allowance. It was a wonderful day, but with no one else to share it with, I now headed home. You get tired at some time, and by some time I mean I almost spent the whole day outside.

It was already past 5 in the afternoon when the taxi I was on stopped on the road. I realized that we had made it to Anubis house, and I began unpacking my things from the taxi. At that very moment, I saw Patricia and Mick heading home from the direction of the school gym. They were laughing about something I did not know about, but that was not what I was wondering about. I was wondering why they looked sweaty and tired, and why they came from the school gym.

"Hey, Trish! Hey, Mick!" I call out to the two of them, in which they look towards my direction and they wave back. They walk towards me as I unpack the rest of my things from the taxi.

"Where have you been Ambs?", Mick asks me once they get close. "It's clear where she has been, Mick. Look at how little she has bought.", Patricia adds sarcastically. "Whatever, Trish. I do like shopping, you know. Not everyone is as hostile to shopping as you are." I answer back, as Patricia rolls her eyes. "Need some help with those, Amber? Patricia and I will gladly help you, right Trish?" Patricia nods, but she looks at me with narrowed eyes. I acted as if I had not seen her reaction, as I say with a happy tone, "Off to my room then, shall we?"

I walk towards the house, Patricia and Mick right behind me, and I open the door for them. It was the least I can do for them. After all, they were the ones holding my shopping bags. Once inside, I look towards the living room and see Eddie eating already. Mick and Patricia see him too, so I had to ask, "Is it dinner time already?" He shook his head in reply, "Nope, I just slept through lunch, so Trudy left me some food to eat when I wake up." "So you just woke up?", Patricia asked him, at which he nodded. She commented, "Nice hair…" at which Eddie realized that his hair was a mess.

"Let's just place my bags on my room, shall we?", I ask the two of them, at which Patricia grumbled, "I just wanted to have some fun." We walk up the stairs to my room, and once we reach the door, Patricia leaves the bags outside and just leaves. Mick does the same thing, so I had to get it all inside by myself. Mara was not in our room, and Nina was fast asleep. I fix the new stuff I just bought inside our cabinet, when Mara comes in.

"Ambs! Where have you been?" Mara asks me, seeing that I was fixing a lot of stuff. "Oh, I just went shopping…" "Oh? How did it go?" "It was great, Mara. Want to see what I just bought?" "Yeah, sure!" Mara comes closer to me and we both look through the stuff I just bought. It was one of our favorite pastimes. I tried to fit in some of the clothes, and Mara commented on how good I looked. Finally she gave up and said, "It's unfair, Amber. You look good in anything you would choose to wear." She looked a little sad, so I tried to cheer her up. "Come on, Mara. You look pretty in these dresses too." She brightened up. "Really?" "Yes, Mara. If you want, you can try some of them on."

I hear Nina stir up from her sleep, as I hear a yawn. She looks at us and asks, "Is it a dress-up party? I would like to join." "Sure, Nina. Take your pick."

We spent an our dressing up and commenting on how each of us looked, then another hour or two trying my makeup on. At least, that was how I felt it took. Then we hear Trudy call out, "Dearies, it's time for dinner." We walk down the stairs a little while later and sit on the dining chairs. Then we start eating dinner. As always, Trudy's cooking tasted fantastic, and everyone seemed to agree, judging by how much food was on their plates, specifically Alfie's plates, which looked like a mountain of food items. After eating dinner, we gather all our plates and place it on the sink. I head up to our room to start on my assignment, while singing along to some songs I had on my phone. Nina and Mara follow some time later, so I took off my headphones to talk to them. What followed was a girls' conversation about some stuff that came off our minds, but mostly it was about Nina telling us about what she was up to before arriving here at Anubis house. After that, they fall asleep. It was going to be a long Sunday tomorrow. There was nothing set to do for tomorrow, that was until I had an idea for tomorrow. I'm not sure that the others may like it, but I set my mind on it.

I count on my mind. I, Mara, Nina, Joy, Patricia, Eddie, Mick, Alfie and Jerome. Well, that's only nine people. I need one more person to complete 10. Then I remember, Victor will not let us all out if Trudy will not come with us, so that makes 10.

I search the internet for the best place for us to play some Paintball (or Laser tag, but I personally prefer Paintball, as it had limited bullets). You may not believe me if I told you that I loved playing shooting games, but I do. And I love it. I'm not bragging, but I'm sure I'm an expert player when it comes to these things (although I only play every once in a while now, as paint was messy and it takes a long time for me to clean it up.) Nothing better to do on a Sunday than that.

Now that I found a place which promised a good area for us to play paintball, all I had to think of was how to invite the others in such a way that they will accept playing with me. I smile, then I fall asleep, dreaming of how I will surely win this thing.

**Amber loves Paintball (and shooting games in general). Does that come as a shock to you?**

**Like this chapter? Please review.**


	20. Paintball (and more)

**I'm back, with the newest chapter to this story. Hope you like it.**

**Thanks for all the wonderful reviews.**

**If this is not your thing, you can go check out my other HoA stories. And if my writing is not your thing, you can just tell me.**

**Check out my new story, titled "Space Revelations." Love y'all… **

_Mara_

I'm flying! I'm really flying! I can't believe it. This was what England looked like from above? It's so beautiful. The clouds, the landmarks, it was an indescribable feeling of happiness. It was perfection. I just wished that someone was here with me, enjoying the sights I was seeing. Then I hear a faint voice that sounded like Amber. Amber was here too? But where? I look around, but see no one near me. The voice became louder, "Mara, Mara! Wake up, Mara!", and I realize that I was just dreaming. And now, my dream was over. I guess it's time to get back to real life, where I'm just a nice girl who spends her time reading and topping classes. It gets old sometimes, you know. I sometimes wish that I was someone else. Someone different, and likable, not just someone who gets taken advantage of for her smarts…

"Huh? What's up so early in the morning, Ambs?", I ask her, still feeling a little sleepy. Besides, it was still 5 in the morning. On a Sunday. I look at her, and she looked excited. But excited for what?

"Mara, I booked all of us into a paintball game! Aren't you excited?", Amber exclaims with glee. I think to myself, 'Amber? Excited for a paintball game? That's unexpected. I never knew Amber liked paintball, nor did I ever expect it to. I mean, paintball is messy, and Amber and messy don't mix, just like oil and water.' I'm not really a fan of paintball, but it seemed like Amber took care of everything, so I just can't say no.

"Sure, Amber. I didn't know you liked paintball." "Well, can you keep a secret, Mara. I would not want the others to know I liked paintball?" "Okay, Amber, but how would you tell the others about joining in the paintball game?" "That's why I woke you up… Can you ask the others, for me? Please?", Amber pleaded.

We did not notice that while we were talking, Nina stirred up from her bed and was listening to our conversation. We only realized she was awake when she asked, "Ask us what?". Nina walks to where we were seated, as Amber asks her, "How long were you awake?" Her reply, "Um, I was awake long enough to know that you liked paintball. Why?" Amber thought for a second, and told Nina, "You have to keep it a secret Nina. Now that you know about the secret, can you help Mara tell the others to join in the paintball game?" "Sure, Amber. Paintball sounds exciting. But who is going to join us?" "Oh, just the other students and Trudy. We all know that Victor would not let us out without any supervision.", Amber reasoned. I had to agree. We needed Trudy to come with us, or Victor would never let us go.

We decide to wait for the others in the living room, so we go down and sit on the sofa. Trudy was already awake, cooking breakfast, so we decide to go help her.

"Oh, you're awake, lovelies. Why are you up so early?", Trudy asks when she sees us. Nina responds, with a gentle nudge from Amber, "We wanted to tell the others about the paintball game we're going to later." "Oh, but Victor will never agree to let you out?", Trudy remarked, at which Amber replied, "That's why we wanted to ask you if you wanted to accompany us to the paintball game. Please?" Trudy thought about it for a second, and decided, "Sure, dearies. But I'm too old to play paintball." "It'll be fun, Trudes. I promise. And you're not too old to play paintball. That's nonsense", Amber added.

Once Amber got Trudy to agree to join the paintball game and telling her not to say that it was her idea, we help her cook breakfast, and prepare the dishes once we were done. We go sit around the dining table, on our places, while Trudy calls out for breakfast. A couple of footsteps later and everyone was here on the table, ready to eat breakfast.

Once we were all settled in on the table, Trudy speaks up. "So, my lovelies, Mara and Nina wants all of us to go play paintball later today. I'll have to ask Victor permission, but what do you say?" Jerome and Alfie look at each other, clearly excited, and say at the same time, "Cool idea… We would be unbeatable in paintball!" Patricia rolls her eyes, but responds, "That's cool, I guess. It can be fun." Mick answers, "Sounds fun!" Eddie says, "Sure. I would love to go play paintball." We all look to Joy, who was still thinking about whether she would go or not, when she breaks the silence and says, "Everyone's going, so I guess I'll go too." I look to Amber, and she seemed overjoyed that everyone was going. I also see something else. If I'm not mistaken, she had that mischievous gleam in her eyes that screamed, "I will win this one. And everone will be shell-shocked"

At that we start eating, while Trudy walks up to Victor's office to ask permission to go play paintball.

Everyone was still buzzing about what they will do once they get to play paintball, even after we finish breakfast, as Trudy gives us the good news that she had managed to make Victor agree to let us out, so we decide right then to form the 2 teams, with 5 players each. We decide that it is best to let Nina and Eddie choose who their teammates will be. Jerome tosses a coin to see who will choose first. Nina.

Nina chooses Alfie first. Eddie picks Amber.

Nina chooses Jerome next, as Eddie picks Mick.

Nina chooses me, after which Eddie picks Joy.

Nina chooses Trudy last, which leaves Eddie with Patricia.

We go back to our room to get ready to play paintball, and once we got ready, we went to Trudy's van, which I did not know existed before today. I thought about getting a book to read on the way, but I decided against it, telling myself that I wanted to have fun today. We pack our spare clothes in the van, and we were off.

I observe the others while we were in the van. Amber was not wearing makeup, which was very surprising, considering that we were going out today. I'll have to ask her about that later. Jerome and Alfie were discussing about a gameplan on paintball, and I think they were holding their walkie-talkies. What were they going to do with those, I wonder? Eddie and Mick were talking about sports to pass the time, while Patricia and Joy were talking about something I can't hear. Trudy was driving the van we were in, heading towards the location Amber booked us in.

We reach our destination in an hour, in which we unload from the car and get inside the building. The caretaker, a guy named Steve, hands us the keys as he says, "Have fun today kids. You are booked for the entire day, which gives me an opportunity to take a break." He points towards a large box on the side of the room we are in, mentioning. "All the weapons and paint balls are there." He points to a smaller box, "There are a set of costumes there for you to use. Can be cleaned easily by wiping, so that you won't worry about your clothes, and when you're ready, get through that door, and start shooting. Well, I think that's it. I'll be back at 5 pm. And yeah, don't destroy the place, okay?. Bye." Steve leaves and we are left to ourselves.

Patricia narrows her eyes. She can't believe that we were booked here for the whole day. "W-wait a sec!", she gets out attention as she speaks up, "It costs a lot to book paintball for a whole day, especially for a building like this." "How would you know that?", I inquired, and she answers, "I know a friend… Anyway, back to what I was saying, I doubt that you two can afford booking this place for a day." She looks to Nina, then I. She adds, "The only person I know with enough allowance to afford this is…" She looks at Amber, in that she admits, "Fine, Trish. I was the one who booked us to this place. Satisfied?" "Yep… I just knew it."

"Let's just play, shall we?", Amber tells us, and we all agree. That was what we came here for, anyway. Amber sighs in relief, knowing that she had just avoided the barrage of questions that was coming for her once everyone knew she was the one who planned this all along.

We all walk towards the large box, where all the weapons lay There were all types of paintball weapons in there, including what seemed to be a freaking paintball machine gun, a few shotguns, a sniper rifle and of course, the regular paintball pistols. Some semiautomatics (rifle and submachinegun) have been tossed in there too, for good measure.

I knew a lot about weaponry, and you may be wondering why. Nobody may know about this yet, but my real passion was studying weapons. And I'm not letting anyone know anytime soon.

We let Amber choose first. After all, she was the one who paid for all this. She grabs two pistols and holds it up in a V, action-hero style. Then we all grab our choice of weapons.

This is the list of the weapons they picked up. (and their actions)

**Nina: **The machine gun (seriously? She picked up the machine gun? I did not expect that, looking at her)

**Alfie: **one semiautomatic rifle and a pistol (he tried to do his best impression of what may be parkour. I wasn't sure, it was that bad)

**Eddie: **two semiautomatic submachineguns (with a scream of "Yeah, baby!")

**Amber: **the two pistols

**Jerome: **a shotgun and a pistol (he brushes the dirt off his shoulders)

**Mick: **the sniper rifle (he checks his scope, like a real sniper)

**Me (Mara): **a pistol, a semiautomatic submachinegun and some paintball grenades I discovered (I just walk away. Hey, that's not cheating)

**Joy: **a semiautomatic submachinegun (she looks at the gun, not sure what to do with it)

**Patricia: **two shotguns (she had a smirk on her face)

**Trudy: **a shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle (she holds both of the guns, one hand each)

We then grab our costumes from the other box, after which we go through the door Steve mentioned to us a while back.

The building was 4 floors high, and so we decide to start playing paintball. We made a bet, that the losing team would buy lunch for all of us. Our team (blue team) decides to start from the fourth floor of the building, while their team (red team) will start at the first floor.

When we reach the fourth floor, Jerome, who assumes the role of leader, tells us all about his gameplan, which was very detailed. I had to say, he was a very good tactician, even though there was no need to be this detailed about a game. A fun game, at that.

Jerome split us into three groups. First was the runner. Basically, he was the bait. He would run until he saw an opponent, then he would run back towards the fourth floor, shooting back whenever possible. There were two followers. They would follow the runner at a slower pace and a safe distance away, shooting at anyone foolish enough to follow him. The remaining two members, the guardians, would be left guarding the fourth floor, until signaled otherwise. This was when Jerome and Alfie's walkie-talkies came into handy. There were a lot of details about backup plans, that it took me some time to memorize it fully.

We signaled the other team that we were ready, and then we were underway.

At the first round, we executed the plan into perfection, as Alfie, the runner, managed to bait Eddie, Joy and Patricia, and they were shot down by Jerome and Nina, the followers. Alfie signals me with the walkie-talkie to accompany them downstairs, leaving Trudy to guard the fourth floor alone. Then came the next phase of our plan. Knowing that Mick was holding a sniper rifle, we distracted him with two targets, Jerome and Alfie, and when he came out of his hiding spot, I and Nina jump out of ours and shoot him down. Amber was nowhere to be found. We were looking for her in hiding spots on the first and second floor, but we did not need to look, as Trudy gave us news from the walkie-talkie. She shot Amber down. Imagine that.

The second round was much like the first round, except this time, Nina was the runner, and Jerome and Alfie were the followers. The result was even better this time, as they all decided to chase Nina and the three of them shot Amber's team down. We weren't even called down.

The third round, now that was different. Jerome decided to be the runner, and from the start the plan fell apart. They were ready for him. The moment Jerome ran to them, they shot him down. I and Nina got shot down too, thanks to some shooting skills I did not know Amber had. She managed to dodge Nina's machine gun and she gave us a mark in both of mine and Nina's foreheads. Alfie and Trudy did not stand a chance as Amber's team charged the fourth floor and hit them both with paint balls.

A dozen or so rounds later, it was almost time for lunch, and the game was tied. I decided to use the "pièce de résistance", the grenades I found a while back. When I showed them to my teammates, they were shocked.

"Mara, where did you find these?", Jerome asks me, smiling. We were so gonna win. "I found them on the weapons box. Do you want to use it?" Jerome and Alfie gasp. "Mara, that's cheating! Are YOU suggesting that we cheat to win?", Alfie asks. "The rules clearly tell us to use any weapon of choice to hit the enemy with paint, right? This is a weapon. I'm not cheating." I point towards the grenades. "B-but, that's unfair!", Jerome remarked. "You want to win, or not?" I say with steel in my voice. I wanted to win this. I'm not a big fan of losing at all, and I realize I was willing to do anything to win this paintball game.

Everyone on my team was shocked with my statement. "Mara, that's not nice.", Trudy commented, but I was determined, so they gave up arguing, and decided to let me use the paintball grenades.

We won, by the way. Jerome and Alfie were still shell-shocked at what I just did, not expecting me to do anything of that sort. When we all settled down on the room where we picked up our weapons, Patricia grumbled, "That's unfair, Mara. I can't believe you would do that! I thought you were nice". She was not happy. Amber's hair was a mess, as she glared at me and squealed, "Look what you've done to my hair! You've painted it all pink! You're so mean!" Joy stammers, "B-but, that was against the rules… And, it wasn't nice at all!". Mick and Eddie just stood there, silent, with paint splattered on their costumes. The three girls went to confront me with what I have done.

I realized I had made a mistake, and so I wanted to apologize, but something else overcame me. It was my alter-ego, Mary.

Oh no, not Mary. Anyone but Mary. She was terrifying, and so unlike myself. She was capable of hurting someone, which I would never do, even though her only intention was protecting me. I had thought that she had disappeared, because she hadn't shown up in years, but now she was back. The last time she appeared, she nearly killed my classmate, strangling him with an electric cord and beating him up with whatever she found. He was the school bully back then, but after that incident, he was terrified of me, and so were the other students. So I had to move to another school. The question was, what would she do now?

My memory was all a blur after Mary appeared, with only fragments of what happened that I remember. When she finally disappeared, back into my mind, Jerome and Mick were restraining me, with Alfie and Eddie ready to help just in case. I looked towards the girls, and that was when I saw Patricia with a bloody nose and a black eye, and Joy was knocked out. Amber was terrified, hiding out in the corner of the room, while Trudy was nursing Patricia, and Nina was trying to wake Joy up.

**The paintball game was a disaster, thanks to Mara's 'outburst'. You did not see that coming, did you? I'm not really good describing things I've never experienced before, like paintball, so if it does not seem real, that's the reason why.**

**What do you say about this chapter? Please review…**


	21. Wakeup call

**Thanks for all the wonderful reviews.**

**This is the new chapter to the story. Enjoy… **

_Nina_

I try to wake Joy up, as she was still knocked out on the floor. It had been 5 minutes since Mara's outburst, and Joy was not yet awake. Amber was still sitting on the corner, embracing her legs and you can just see the fear she had on her face. Patricia was already seated on the floor, visibly shaken up by what just happened. Everyone was quiet. Mara ran away from us, crying all the way before she slammed on the door. Trudy ran after her, concerned as to what just happened.

We sat down in silence for a while before Joy stirred up and asked, "What just happened?" Alfie was the only one who stammered an answer, "I-I think Mara j-just gone mad…She l-looked terrifying…" It was true. It was as if something (or someone) possessed Mara to do those things she just did.

(Flashback)

Amber, Joy and Patricia went to confront Mara about using the paintball grenades a while back. Amber was rambling about how Mara would pay for ruining her hair. Patricia was complaining about Mara not being nice and all that. Joy was rambling about rules and fair play, among others. Basically, they were letting Mara feel very guilty for doing what she just did. I honestly thought they were overreacting a bit. It must have been a bit too much for Mara to handle, as her appearance and demeanor suddenly changed from someone who cringed and was continuously crying to someone who was cold-hearted and had this look in her eyes that was so terrifying that I immediately looked away. She lunged at Patricia as she struck powerful blows at Patricia. Patricia tried to fight back, but Mara was unbelievably firm and continued hitting her face. Joy, greatly concerned that Mara was hurting her best friend Patricia, went to try and stop Mara, but then Mara shifted her focus from Patricia to Joy, and she just forced Joy's head against the wall twice, before Joy collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Amber just ran to the corner and tried to hide herself from Mara's wrath. The guys realized that Mara would not stop hurting Patricia and Joy, so they tried to restrain her, with Mick trying to do it first, alone, but Mara struggled to get free of his grip, and Jerome was forced to help him restrain her.

(Present time)

"Are you alright, Joy?", I ask her, as she replies, "My head really hurts a lot, but other than that, I'm fine. Thanks for the concern." Joy sits up on the floor, just like everyone else, and we were back in silence. That was, until Alfie decided to break the silence.

"Something's not right about Mara. I think she did not mean to do that.", Alfie begins. Patricia looked irritated at him, as she points at her face. "Alfie, look at me. Would anyone do this to someone else without him or her meaning to do it? It seemed like she wanted to beat me up. I can't believe you're taking her side!" Alfie looked speechless, but Jerome went on next, "No, I think Alfie's right. I mean, Mara had never done this sort of thing before. She's a nice girl." Patricia narrows her eyes, "I can't believe that you guys are protecting her. I thought you were my friends!" She walks away from the guys, entering the other door towards the building where we just played paintball.

I follow her, as she was walking the length of the building. I hear her talking to herself, "I can't believe they would do that to me. She… she should be sent to a mental institution for this." Hearing that, I gasp, and she looks around.

"Why are you here, Nina?", she asks, annoyed. "I can't believe you would say that, Patricia. That's so mean.", I reply. "Of course you're on her side too. Nobody likes me. I'm so mean. As if I didn't expect you to say that.", she shakes her head. I stammer "I-I didn't mean to…", but she shushes me, telling me, "Go back in there with your friends, and leave me here alone. I don't care." I reluctantly leave, walking back to the doorway, and return to my place next to Joy, who was now looking better.

"What did Patricia say, Neens? Is she alright?", Joy asks me, concerned that her best friend was alone in there. "She told me to come back here and leave her alone. She also said that we were all on Mara's side." "I'll go talk to her then…", Joy tries to stand up, but as she started to walk towards the door, she lost her balance, and falls flat on the floor.

"Are you alright, Joy?", I ask, concerned. "I'm fine, it's just…My head. It hurts." She might have a concussion, I think to myself, so I tell her to lay down for a while.

**Thanks for reading… Hope you will read the next chapter **


	22. Whispers, Dreams and Protectors

**If you were wondering why some conversations don't seem real, it's because I don't talk much, and don't really have a lot of friends.**

**Sorry for any minor mistakes on this story. I just type as I go, and don't really check my work. I know, lazy writing, but I want to post chapters ASAP. It keeps the flow going.**

**And no, I have not forgotten about Fabian.**

**Now on to the new chapter. **

_Alfie_

It was still quiet after Patricia left for the playing area, followed by Nina, so I tried to crack a joke to lighten the mood. I guess everyone was still in shock about what Mara had done just a while back.

"I see shocked people, but I don't see the stun gun anywhere.", I pretend to look around, but nobody laughed. Not even Jerome. I sigh. I can't believe it. It was supposed to be a fun day of paintball, but now it was ruined. It seemed that nobody was interested to play anymore. Then Nina comes back from the playing area with a defeated look on her face.

Now at least the silence was broken, as Joy and Nina started to talk about Patricia. As Joy tries to stand up, presumably to talk to Patricia, she falls flat on the floor and we all run to her with concern. I was sure her head still hurt, and Nina knew too, so she helped Joy lay down on the floor.

"Do we need to call an ambulance, Joy?", Nina asks, but Joy shakes her head, saying, "No. This is just nothing. Thanks anyway, Nina." I see Eddie walk towards Amber, who was still in the corner of the room. She must be in a… wait, let me remember. Yeah, that's it. Trauma.

"Don't worry, Amber. It's going to be okay…", I hear Eddie try to make her feel better, but I doubted it was going to work. He whispers to her, so I could not hear what he was saying, but then Amber slowly stood up and walked towards Nina and Joy. Eddie was beside her, still trying to make her feel better. He was holding her hand. That's kinda cool, I guess.

"You think he likes her?", Jerome asks me and Mick, pointing to Eddie and Amber. "Yeah. I think so." Mick replies and I nod too.

"So, you think we're going to play paintball later?" I ask them, and they both shake their heads. "Not this time, man. Not everything can be fun. There's a problem here that needs to be resolved.", Jerome replies.

I get lost in my thoughts then I hear a whisper. It was the same whisper I heard in the attic, but this time with a different message. "Go. Go find your protectors. They can help you find your friend." "What? What do you mean?", I ask in my mind, but the whisper was gone.

"Hey, hey man. Are you alright?", I hear Jerome's voice from what seemed to be far away then I realized that I was just lost in my thoughts, so I snap out of it and assure him, "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." "Are you sure, because you were speaking inaudibly just now.", Mick added. "I-I was just, thinking of something. But I'm fine, really." They decide not to ask me any more questions, and it gave me time to think about what the whisper meant by 'Find my protectors.'

Protectors? What protectors? Did it mean my parents? No, that does not make any sense at all. But who? Who are the protectors? I would want help to find my friend Fabian. Maybe my friends are my protectors… But I couldn't be sure. I don't really want to put my other friends in trouble, not even Patricia. I don't need them to know about my terrible dream. Even Sibuna doesn't know the full extent of my dream. (A/N: If you don't know what dream I'm talking about, read chapter 12 again) And I plan not to tell them anytime soon. They don't need to know that they were not just dead in that dream. What really happened in the dream was that I failed to save Fabian, and because of that I was in a rage. I couldn't control myself and I… I was the one who killed them all. I… killed them all. As if they had anything to do with it. I couldn't tell them that. And I can't live with myself if that happened in real life. Who would?

Something tells me to try and recall that same dream again. There was a pulling sensation in my mind. I recall the dream again and again then I finally notice something at the end of the dream. The dead students. There were only 8 of them. 10 students were staying at Anubis house, including Fabian and me… Which meant one was missing. But who? And why?

My thoughts get interrupted by Jerome, who snaps me out of my trance and looks at me straight in the eyes. "You're acting strange bro? Is there something wrong?" "No, just thinking of something." "You've been doing that a lot lately." "I know, but I assure you, I'm fine." Jerome, thankfully, drops it and I decide not to think about it for now as to not arouse suspicion.

e talkH

**I have 2 questions for you guys to answer. I won't post the next chapter unless at least one of you gives me a decent answer in the reviews.**

**Who are Alfie's protectors, and why would you think that?**

**Who was the one missing from the dead people in the dream, and why would you think that?**

**Okay, that's all, and until next time.**


	23. Personality Help

**I'm not promising that the questions that I asked will be answered this chapter, so let's just wait and see, shall we?**

**To SibunaMockingjay, thank you for those kind words, but I think you are in a worse off situation than me. I may be blowing my problems out of proportion. If you want a friend, I can be one.**

**Thanks for the reviews, SibunaMockingjay and BlackCat46 (and anyone I may have missed).**

**Behold, the new chapter. **

_Mara_

"Mara, are you okay?", I hear Trudy's sweet voice as she catches up with me. I was crying under a tree. "I'm sorry Trudy, but I did not mean to do it…", I tell her between sobs. She sits next to me and lets me cry for a moment, then she looks at me in the eyes and asks me, "Is everything alright, Mara?" I nod. "I'm fine, Trudy." "I'm just concerned, Mara. You did not seem like yourself a while ago… You can tell me anything, you know." "Thanks Trudy, but I can't tell you my problem, or you might think that I'm insane." "Of course not, Mara. You are not insane. I won't ever call you that. I promise. Do you want to tell me?"

I think for a moment, but my mind was set. I can't stand keeping this a secret anymore. I had to tell someone, and I'm glad it was Trudy who was here.

"Um-Trudy. Please promise not to tell anyone… Please…" My voice came out a little more nervous than I hoped it would be. "Okay, Mara. I won't." I hesitate for a moment, then say, "Um, Trudy. I think I have multiple personality disorder… I'm not really sure, but I really think I have it." "Oh… I see. Do you remember anything from a while ago, or not?" "No, not really. My memory is a blank…" "Mara, don't worry. You'll be fine… When was the last time she appeared?" "I was still in grade school back then… I thought she was gone by now, but I-I was wrong…" "It's not your fault, Mara. I understand. That was not you."

I'm a bit puzzled as to why Trudy was asking me all these questions, unless she knew someone personally with this disorder. "Trudy, why are you asking me about all this?" Trudy looks at me, and sighs. "Mara, do you know why I know about multiple personality disorder? Because I have it too." My eyes brightened up a bit, but I was in still in disbelief. "Really, Trudy? But how come I have not seen you act different?" "I have acted different, Mara. But luckily, none of you guys were there when my other personalities came up. Not even Victor." "W-wait, personalities?" "Yeah… Why? Do you only have one?" "Yeah, at least I think so…" "That's good, Mara."

We sat on the tree for moments. "I'm scared, Trudy. What if my alter-ego shows up again?" "Don't worry, Mara. Just be calm and don't put yourself into too much stress, and maybe you can limit her appearances. So, do you want to talk about her?" "Okay, Trudy. At least you understand."

I explain what I can remember about her. "Her name is Mary. I think she appears when she thinks that I'm in danger." "So basically, she is protecting you. That's normal for some personalities, although yours is really aggressive and dangerous." "How about you, Trudy? Can you tell me about your other personalities?" "Yes, of course. I have Timothy, a person who is basically scared of everything. Andrea is con artist who uses her smarts to take advantage of others, and Reina. She's very moody and can't control her actions sometimes. There were others, but they disappeared when I started taking medication to relieve my stress. Now only those three appear." I couldn't believe it. How could she manage with 3 other personalities, while I am terrified with only one alter-ego.

"Be strong, Mara. Don't be scared. It's alright. Having another personality is not at all bad. She just wants to protect you after all, right?" "I guess." She looks at the time, "Oh, we should get back now Mara. They might be looking for us already. Remember, I will always be here for you. Feel free to share, but now we have to go back, okay?" "Okay, Trudy."

We stand up from the tree we were sitting on and head back to the paintball place. Oh yeah, paintball. I had forgotten all about that.

Joy and Patricia. What will they say? And the others? What would they think of me, now that I did something terrible to Joy and Patricia. "Trudy, what if they hate me?", I ask her as tears start welling up in my eyes again. "No, no, Mara. Don't think that. They will understand. I'm sure of it." "But how do I explain what happened a while ago?" "Don't worry, I'll take care of it.", she assures me, so we resume walking towards the paintball area.

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**I'm sorry. You might think of this as a disappointing chapter, but I'm not in my best writing form today. I just wanted to post a chapter, so here it is.**


	24. Forgiveness and Plans

**I'm back! Thanks a lot SibunaMockingjay and Guest. Here's my next update. **

_Amber_

I'm grateful that Eddie was here to comfort me. I was still a bit scared, but thanks to Eddie, I'm feeling better. I did not notice, but I leaned to his shoulder while we were sitting. Joy was still visibly shaken up, as Nina was accompanying her. Alfie, Jerome and Mick were still on the other side of the room, talking about something I couldn't hear. Not that I cared, really. The important thing was that Eddie was here holding my hand.

Hmm, about Eddie. He was a really nice guy, and I think I'm falling for him. He would be perfect boyfriend material. And he seemed to like me too. A blush escaped my cheeks, and Eddie noticed.

"Are you okay, Amber? Your cheeks are turning red." He looked a bit concerned.

"I'm okay now, Eddie. Thank you."

"For what?", he looks to me.

"For making me feel better…", I admit.

"That's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah." I sigh contentedly.

The door opens. I think for a second that it might be the caretaker, but it was just Trudy and Mara. I look toward Mara, who had her head down. I subconsciously tighten my grip on Eddie's hand, in which he assures me, "It's going to be okay, Amber. Don't worry."

Mara clears her throat, which gets our attention. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Joy… I hope you forgive me. And you too, Amber. I'm sorry." Her voice sounded sincere and full of regret.

Then I hear Joy answer, "It's okay, Mara. I forgive you. Even though my head still hurts a lot."

"I forgive you too, Mara.", I hesitantly add.

"Thanks guys, that really means a lot to me." Mara then proceeds to give me and Joy a hug.

When we settled down a bit, Mara asks, "Where's Patricia? I need to apologize to her." The guys point to the door of the paintball place. Mara stands up and heads toward the door, presumably to apologize to Patricia, but Jerome stops her.

"Are you sure you want to go there, Mara? Patricia is still mad, you know.", Jerome tells her. He was right. Who knows what will happen in there if Patricia was mad at her. What if Mara has an outburst again? What will happen then?

"I'll be fine.", Mara assures Jerome, but Jerome was not convinced, so he suggests, "It would be better if someone accompanies you, just to be sure that nothing happens there."

"I'll go with her.", Joy volunteers as she stands up. Nina stands up too. "I'll also go, to make sure Joy will be okay." Joy and Nina both look towards me. I sigh, and say, "I'll be going too."

I reluctantly let go of Eddie's hand as I stand up to accompany the girls to see Patricia. I knew it will be girls' talk. I also knew that Patricia would not like this, but she had no choice anyway. And who knows? Maybe this will make things better for all of us.

We find Patricia sitting on the 3rd floor of the building, staring out a window. She must have seen us coming, because she turned around to look at us.

"What do you want?", she muttered, narrowing her eyes at us before concentrating at Mara.

"Trish, Mara wants to apologize to you. We're here to talk about it.", Joy replies to her bestfriend.

"Whatever…", Patricia turns her back at us and stares out the window again.

Before we could stop Joy, she walks to Patricia and sits beside her. We stand up somewhere behind them. They start to talk for a while. I can't really hear what they were talking about. Mara looked a little scared, so we chit-chat to make her feel better as Joy tried to make Patricia feel better.

It took some time before Joy managed to make Patricia feel a bit better. I hear Patricia clear her throat, then she spoke, "Fine, Mara. I suppose you can apologize. Give it your best shot, because I'm not ready to forgive you."

Mara then tells her how sorry she was, trying to make Patricia forgive her for damaging her face and she even promised to do anything, so that Patricia may forgive her.

"All right, I suppose I can forgive you. Not completely, but you're willing to do anything, so…" Patricia smiles a bit. At least I thought it was a smile. Or a smirk.

"Thank you, Patricia.", Mara sighs in relief.

"Don't thank me yet. So you're willing to do anything, right?", Patricia asks her, and she nods. Patricia thinks for a while, then her face brightens up.

"Carry out a prank on both Jerome and Alfie. It needs to be a good one, and I have to be there to see it happen. It should be real funny to make me laugh. I'll forgive you then."

"B-but…", Mara starts to protest, but Patricia stops her.

"No buts, Mara. Remember? You said anything… This is what I want you to do. Besides, you're not as good a girl as I thought.

Mara sighs, defeated. "Fine, Trish. If that's what you want."

We talk about some girls' talk. It was one of those rare times that Patricia was in the mood to talk about anything, and I was not about to waste the opportunity.

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**Could any of you guys suggest as to what prank Mara will do to get Jerome and Alfie good? The one with the best suggestion will get a mention next chapter. **

**It has been a week since I updated. And it's not the longest of chapters, but it's all I have in store for today. Please review.**


	25. Finishing off

**I'm really sorry guys. I have not updated in what is more than a month now. To the readers out there waiting for my next update, I hope you guys forgive me for taking so long to update. I've been busy with things lately. And it's so short, I'm really sorry. I'm not yet discontinuing any of my stories, but updates may be inconsistent and I might be away for days, even weeks at a time. Please understand.**

_Patricia_

I was planning to forgive Mara eventually, but when she pleaded she was willing to do anything, I could not resist making her prank somebody. That way, she would be forgiven, and I get a good laugh. A win-win situation.

When we head back to where the others were, the boys all turn their heads towards us. When they realized we were fine, they turned back to their original places. Amber sat down with Eddie opposite one of the walls, while the other girls went to a corner to continue their conversations. I ask the guys where Trudy was, noticing that she was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, she went out to buy us food.", Mick tells me.

We wait for Trudy to come back with our food, as I bring out my earphones to listen to some loud music to cool myself down. I check on the others every once in a while. Alfie, Jerome, and Mick were talking about who knows what, but I notice Alfie was not doing much of the talking. Not that I really cared. I look towards Amber and Eddie, apparently not noticing that they were holding hands. Amber was laughing at something Eddie said, and I couldn't resist rolling my eyes at them. The girls were still talking about girl things, I was sure.

The door opens, and Trudy comes in with our lunch. We all stop what we were doing at the moment, as we grab our take-out and set it down for us to eat. "hmm, Chinese…" I think to myself as I open mine and start eating lunch. It turns out we were all starving, as the take-out food was gone within a few minutes.

I have to say, the food was good. Not Trudy level good, but tasty nonetheless. I check on my watch, and realize there was still 2 hours before 5 PM. I did not want to sit around doing nothing, so I decide to ask the others if anyone was still interested in another round of paintball. Besides, I was feeling like shooting someone with paint.

Eddie and Amber responds at the same time, "Never mind, I'm good here." They look at each other, and laugh, as I roll my eyes.

Alfie replies next, "No thanks."

Mara and Joy shook their heads, Mara saying, "Sorry Trish, I think it's best to avoid playing for the meantime," while Joy replied, "Sorry, I can't. My head still hurts a bit."

I sigh in defeat, thinking no one will go play with me. I guess I have to go alone. But that was before Jerome walked to the large box and grabbed some paintball guns, and bullets. Mick followed, doing the same thing. I look to Nina, who did not respond yet, and she sighs, "Alright, I'll join you guys."

I grab my own choices from the box, while Nina does the same. I look towards Trudy, who had a concerned look in her eyes.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine.", I tell her and she just nods.

When we were ready, we walk to the doorway leading to the paintball building. We split two each, Nina with Jerome camping at the top floor, and I with Mick here on the ground floor. This is going to be fun.

"Do you have a plan?", Mick asks me. I reply, "I don't care about plans. Let's just attack."

"Good plan." Mick nods and we storm the top floor, shooting at anything that moves.

When we return to the common room more than an hour later, we were all smiling through paint. Paint of different colors decorated our clothes, and was even dripping from some spots. Our hair looked messy, with paint stuck in some of the strands. I knew this will take a while for every bit of paint to be removed from our clothes and ourselves, but it was so worth it.

"Seems like you guys had fun.", Joy commented, looking at us bemused.

"Yeah, guess who won?" Mick remarked.

"Um, I think nobody won. You're all covered in paint.", Mara commented.

"You're right, nobody won." Mick admits, scratching his head. After that, he looks at his hand. It was covered in paint. He looked surprised, and some couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction.

"You guys look terrible.", Amber comments, as Trudy comes to us with some damp wipes to at least wipe some of the paint off our hair and faces. While we were wiping the paint off ourselves, the caretaker arrives from wherever he came from.

"I see you guys had fun. Your time is up, and it's time to go. Please come again next time." The caretaker tells us. It was time to leave. Trudy hands him the keys to the place, as we get to the van and she starts driving us back to Anubis house.

We chat all the way on the drive back, talking about miscellaneous things. It was overall, a really nice day.

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**The chapter ends there. Sorry it was so short. I'll update soon.**


	26. Admittance

**And I'm back! Another chapter for those who waited for it.**

**SibunaMockingjay I look forward to you creating your own FanFiction account. I do want to PM you as soon as you get one.**

**Back to the story.**

_Nina_

Once Trudy brought all of us back to Anubis house, I head straight towards the girls' shower room and start washing away all the paint from my hair. I make sure that every bit of paint is removed, and I scrub my hair with a lot more shampoo than what I normally use to make sure that was the case. I'm humming a tune of a song I heard on the radio numerous times while showering, but I don't really know the title of the song.

Just as I was humming the song, in my own little world, I hear Patricia yell from outside the shower room, "Nina! Are you done yet?" As I was nearly done, I reply. "Yeah, I'll be there in a minute. Sorry, Patricia." A few minutes later, I step out of the shower room, to find Patricia glaring at me. She does not say anything as she heads into the shower, but I knew she was not too happy.

I walk up to mine and Amber's room to change. I walk in the room to see Amber sitting on her bed, seemingly thinking of something dreamy.

"Hey, Ambs." I call out to her. It takes a moment for her to answer back. "Oh, Nina. Finished your shower then?" "Um, yeah, actually.", I reply as I start changing clothes. I hear Amber ask in a somewhat dreamy voice, "You think Eddie likes me?" I mentally shake my head at that. Everyone can see that they have a mutual attraction. It was clear as day. "Of course he does, Ambs. But don't you think it's a little bit soon for you to ask the question. I mean, it's just a week, you know." "Yeah, I know it's just a week, but he seems to be…, boyfriend material." I resist the urge to roll my eyes, as I am not Patricia and I don't want to be rude to Amber. But now that I think about it, Amber may be right. There did seem to be a fit about them. "Maybe…", I reply as I finish wearing my clothes. "Thanks, Neens." I hear her reply. "For what?", I ask her. "For giving me the license to pursue Eddie…" "Um, what?" "Oh, nothing", she replies in a singsong voice. I shake my head as I sit on my bed and start on my assignment for one of my classes. Every once in a while I look to Amber, and see her trying to do the assignment as well. She looked distracted.

After a time, she finally gives up. "I can't do this. Not if I'm thinking of something else." Amber complained. "Don't think of something else then." I said matter-of-factly. "Thanks, Patricia." She rolls her eyes at me.

I finish my assignment a little while later, so I tell Amber, who is really distracted, "I'm heading downstairs. Take a look at mine if you need to.", pointing to my assignment. "Yeah, thanks Nina." I knew she was going to check out my assignment the moment I left the room.

I head down to the couch downstairs, but only Alfie was there. He seemed to be deep in thought, clearly stressed out. "What's the problem, Alfie? Can I help?" I ask, but he does not respond. I sit slowly beside him, checking him to see if he was still alive, or conscious. He snapped out of his thoughts and gave a very late reaction, "Um, what was that, Nina?" "Are you okay, Alfie? You seem to be a bit stressed out." "Um, yeah. Just, um, thinking… of some-something" he stutters. "Are you sure it's nothing? Nothing I can help you with?" I narrow my eyes at him, knowing he was lying. "I can't tell you about it, Nina. I don't think you can help." I stare at him, my body language telling him that I was open to listen to anything, and that I wanted him to tell me about it.

"You're not leaving until I tell you something, are you?" he asks me after minutes of sitting on the couch. "Nope, not leaving." I simply reply. He sighs. "Okay… You asked for it." He takes a deep breath, and starts telling me about the full extent of his dream.

"You see, Nina, I never told you guys the full extent of my second dream, and I would not want any of you to know. But since you persist, I will tell you. But you must promise not to tell anyone else, not Sibuna, or the others." "I promise."

"Remember when I told you all about my dream?" He looked at me, and I knew what he meant. "I didn't tell you all of it. I told you about you guys dying…" "Yes, you did. What about it, Alfie?" "Um… You were actually all dead because of me." He admitted weakly. "Yeah, we know."

"No, that's not what I meant. You were dead… BECAUSE OF ME." When he put emphasis on that, it sank in. No wonder he was asking us for his forgiveness then.

We stay silent for a while before I respond, "I'll make sure that won't happen, Alfie. I will do anything to help you find Fabian, so that this dream of yours will not happen. Okay?" "Yeah… Thank you, Nina. And um, one more thing I have not told anyone yet, is about the whispers… in my head. Telling me about finding Fabian." "You have told us that, Alfie." "Yeah, but now the voice is telling me about some kind of protectors. I'm not so sure, but I think I know who it is, judging from my dream, the one you guys were in." "What about the dream?" "There were only 8 of you there around me who were dead. There is supposed to be 9." "And you think the one missing might be the protector?" "Yeah." "So who is missing?" "Um, it's …"

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**I'm sorry for being so mean, and keep that hanging, but I wanted you guys to guess who the protector is.  
**

**Who is Alfie's Protector/s? It's clearly not Nina, that's a clue for you to ponder.**

**The chapter ends here. I'll update soon.**


	27. The Revelation

**After more than 2 months of hiatus, I am back! I'm really sorry for those who waited… But all I can say is that I might only be able to update this story and Space Revelations, for the meantime…**

e talkH

_Alfie_

"So who is missing?", Nina asked me. I hesitated for a second, before deciding it's better if Nina knew who it was. "Um, it's … It was Mara."

"That's good then, right? I mean, we don't need to involve anyone else… Sibuna will help you, Alfie. We'll be there for you."

"I know that, Nina. What I'm afraid of, is that I might not be there for you in the future."

"Don't worry yourself with things that have not happened yet, Alfie. We can still change the outcome. I promise."

"I hope so, Nina. I'd do anything not to let you… um, you guys die in my hands… I won't forgive myself if that were to happen…"

Nina had a caring look in her eyes. ""It'll be alright… I'm sure." She smiled. "Anyways, do you want the other Sibuna members to know about this?"

"Um, that's why I'm telling you this, Nina. I don't think I can tell them about it. But I hope you can tell them, for me."

"I understand, Alfie. I'll tell you as soon as I let them know."

"Thanks, Nina.", I reply, sighing in relief.

"Do you want to talk about anything else, Alfie? I can see how this is stressing you out."

"Yeah, sure." I tell her. She was right. I need to distract myself by talking about something else.

I hear a door open and close, and then footsteps coming down the stairs. e talkH

"Hey, Nina!" I heard a female voice call out. It took me a second to associate the voice with Amber. She added, "Um, never mind. I see you're busy.", to which Nina replied, "What is it, Amber?" "I was going to ask you to clarify on what you have written down on your assignment, but you're busy. It can wait." "Okay!", Nina replies as Amber goes back up the stairs, and I hear a door close shortly after.

"Wait, you let her copy your assignment?", I ask her, curious.

"Um, yeah. I did."

"Why?"

"She was distracted with something else, so she can't answer the assignment herself."

"Let me guess. It has something to do with Eddie?" Her non-response was all I needed. It had something to do with Eddie.

I laughed for a minute, before telling Nina, "You should go help Amber then. Thanks for the talk."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"You're welcome, Alfie. Let's talk again soon."

"We will."

As she heads to their room, I head to mine and Jerome's. I open the door slowly, hoping not to make a sound, then I tiptoe inside. He was fast asleep in his bed. He must have been really tired. I thought about heading to my bed and sleeping as well, but a better idea popped into my head. I grab a marker and start writing on his forehead softly.

I was a bit surprised that he did not wake up. He was normally not this heavy of a sleeper, but I guess he was real tired. I return the marker, then I head to my bed and fall asleep.

**A short chapter, for now… Now you know who the protector is. More to come next chapter.**


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